1. Incorporating Habitat Science into the Assessment & Management of Fishery Stocks Caribbean Fishery Management Council August 13, 2014
Change presenter as needed
Tony Marshak, 2014 NOAA Sea Grant John A. Knauss Fellow
NOAA Fisheries Service, Office of Science and Technology

2. Outline Habitat Assessment Improvement Plan
Habitat Assessment Prioritization of Stocks
Inshore/Offshore Pilot Projects
Regional Habitat Science and LMRs

3. Habitat Assessment Improvement Plan
The HAIP defines NMFS’ role in pursuing habitat science, and in developing habitat assessments to meet its mandated responsibility to sustain marine fisheries and associated habitats.
Fisheries Habitat Science Working Group
A habitat assessment is the process/products associated with the best available information on habitat characteristics relative to the population dynamics of fishery species and other LMRs.
The ultimate goal of a habitat assessment is to determine the function of habitats in relation to fishery production and ecosystems
This supports management decisions that are a mandated responsibility of NOAA
Bob Stone (AFSC), Frank Parrish (PIFSC), Katherine Smith (OHC), and Steve Giordano (OHC – Chesapeake Bay Lab) part of the writing team but have since moved on

4. HAIP Recommendations Engage partners within and outside of NOAA
Develop habitat science budget/staffing initiatives
Initiate demonstration projects incorporating habitat data into stock assessments
Convene regional and national habitat science workshops
Develop a NOAA-wide strategic plan for habitat science
Prioritize stocks & geographical locations for habitat assessment
Also:
Identify/prioritize data inadequacies
Increase collection of habitat data during fishery-independent surveys and develop a plan to better utilize advanced technologies
Establish a habitat assessment fellowship program to advance habitat modeling, evaluation, and assessment efforts

5. (HAIP) Habitat Assessment Prioritization
NMFS should develop criteria to prioritize stocks and geographic locations that would benefit from habitat science and assessment
NMFS should identify and prioritize data inadequacies for stocks and their respective habitats, as relevant to information gaps identified in the HAIP
What is HAPWG? It resulted from the HAIP.

6. Habitat Assessment Prioritization
Stock prioritization results are intended to help guide:
Science planning
Funding allocation
Prioritization now complete for SW & NW; in progress for PI, NE, and AK
Efforts are beginning for the SE region with all three councils
Knowing council research priorities would help greatly in these prioritizations
ST offering technical and logistical assistance, looking at approaches to streamline, but requires local knowledge and expertise.

7. Prioritization Process Stocks not meeting Filter Criteria
Habitat Scientists
Ecologists
Stock Assessment Scientists
Initial Pool of Stocks (FMP)
Stocks meeting Filter Criteria
High Priority Stocks for Habitat Science
Medium Priority Stocks for Habitat Science
Low Priority Stocks for Habitat Science
Filter Criteria (Y/N)
Scorable Criteria
Stocks not meeting Filter Criteria

8. Stock Assessment Improvement
Initial Pool of Stocks (FMP)
Stocks meeting Minimum Criteria
High Priority Stocks
Medium Priority Stocks
Low Priority Stocks
Stocks not meeting Minimum Criteria
Filter Criteria
Scorable Criteria
Filter Criteria (Y/N)
FSSI stock or Council research priority
Likely to benefit a stock assessment (and inform EFH)
Scorable Criteria, 0 – 5 pts each
Benefit to stock assessment survey or model
Fisheries status (e.g. overfished)
Habitat disturbance, vulnerability, and rarity
Habitat dependence
Ecological importance
Economic, social, managerial value

9. Hypothetical list of prioritized stocks

10. Regional Habitat Science and LMRs
NMFS Inshore/Offshore Pilot Projects
NMFS Pacific Groundfish Habitat Mapping (EFH)
Queen conch habitat-stock abundance surveys
“Habitat is the currency for Ecosystem Based Management” – Michael Parke, PIFSC

11. Inshore/Offshore Pilot Projects
2nd National Habitat Assessment Workshop (NHAW2): Understanding the link between inshore habitat and offshore fisheries production has been identified as a high priority knowledge gap
Three pilot projects jointly funded by OST & OHC

12. North Atlantic Pilot Project
Restoring Access to Diadromous Fish Habitat and Linkages to Forage Fish Biomass in the North Atlantic Large Marine Ecosystem
Drs. Wes Patrick (OSF), Tom Miller (U Maryland), and JP Walsh (E Carolina University)
Goal: Predict long-term biological and sociological benefits of restoring diadromous fish habitat
Progress: Historic ranges and abundances of American shad and river herring show substantial declines from pristine conditions as a loss of habitat quality and accessibility over time.
Still planning to look at impacts to harvested offshore fish stocks and economic impacts.

13. Mid-Atlantic Pilot Project
Parameterizing the Relationship Between Inshore Habitat Quantity and Quality and Summer Flounder Production
Drs. Howard Townsend (NCBO), Tom Ihde (NCBO), David Stevenson (GARFO), and John Manderson (NEFSC)
Goal: To provide habitat managers with methods to quantify the cumulative impacts of inshore habitat loss and degradation on the survival/production of juvenile summer flounder.
Progress: Using the Chesapeake Atlantis Model (CAM) and datasets compiled from ASMFC’s Atlantic Coast Fish Habitat Program, scientists are finding that marsh loss strongly impacts forage fish.
Still planning to look at impacts of marsh loss on summer flounder.

14. West Coast Pilot Project
Pacific Marine and Estuarine Fish Habitat Partnership Nursery Assessment
PMEP Steering Committee and Assessment Team (Kristan Blackhart, Dr. Correigh Greene, Korie Schaefer, John Bragg et al.)
Goals: Identify key threats and limiting factors to juvenile fish, and describe the role of nearshore habitats to offshore stock recruitment.
Progress: Inventory and classification of West Coast estuaries is complete, and spatial framework is being further refined to support modeling. Ongoing collection of data on fish abundance and habitat quantity/quality. A State of the Knowledge Report on 15 species that utilize estuary nursery habitats will be available in September 2014.

15. Adaptation for inshore-offshore work
Estuary characteristics Amount of habitat Temperature Dissolved oxygen Urbanization Fish characteristics Abundance Distance from estuary Recruitment size
Estuary characteristic
Offshore abundance
Hypothetical abundance of an estuarine or nearshore nursery species

16. Mapping of Pacific groundfish habitat
Groundfish EFH Habitat-based predictions of distribution and abundance This is being used to refine five-year EFH designations with the council

17. Queen Conch Surveys

18. GIS Plotting of Conch Stock Surveys
- Determine conch locations with transect GPS start/endpoints
- Time of encounter  Distance
- Habitat, depth, conch size/stage
- GIS Spatial Analyst Density calculator
tan-1 y/x = θ
D cos, sin θ = x, y D θ

19. 1995-96 Densities Marshak et al. 2006 Proc. GCFI
Marshak 2009 SEAMAP Report

20. 2006
Densities
Identification of locations important to the life history of PR queen conch
Demonstrate spatial dynamics of the stock and potential areas for protection
Can enhance EBFM

21. Conclusions
NOAA continues to make advancements in the incorporation of habitat into stock assessment and monitoring
Continued initiatives and support for habitat science will enhance stock management and EBFM
Habitat prioritization of stocks is being initiated for the SE region, including council priorities
Spatial analyses and habitat science can be applied to the management of Caribbean stocks

22. More Information Science and Technology Habitat Science:
Habitat Assessment Improvement Plan
NOAA Habitat Blueprint:
Habitat Science Pilot Projects:

23. THANK YOU!