Resource Ecology and Ecosystem Modeling
Ecosystem Assessments
As fishery management organizations make progress in incorporating
ecosystem-oriented thinking into management, there is a need to more
clearly define the ecosystem-oriented management goals of the
organization and the tools available to managers to attain those
goals.
Parallel to this must be an expansion of the scientific
advice provided to management beyond traditional single-species stock
assessment advice.
There is a broad spectrum of ecosystem research currently being conducted
that can provide useful advice to managers in this regard including
GLOBEC
and GLOBEC-like research efforts, habitat research, ongoing
trophic interactions work, long-term monitoring of non-commercial
species, and multispecies and ecosystem models.
Although the ultimate goal is to have quantitative predictions
from this research to guide management, these efforts already serve as
indicators of ecosystem status and trends.
These indicators can provide an early warning system for
managers, signaling human or climate-induced changes that may warrant
management action. They can also serve to track the success of previous ecosystem-oriented
management efforts.
The North Pacific Fishery Management
Council (NPFMC) has started to include some of this ecosystem research
information in an ecosystem considerations document that accompanies
the groundfish stock assessment reports.
We have designed a new format for this document that turns it
into an ecosystem status and trend report beginning in 1999. The entire Ecosystem Considerations Chapter and
many of the data time series are now available through the
Ecosystem Considerations Web Site.
Quantitative indicators are being developed by
Fisheries And The Environment (FATE) , a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) program that
supports NOAA's mission to ensure the sustainable use of US fishery resources under a changing climate. The focus
of FATE is on the development, and evaluation of leading ecological and performance indicators, their application to
practical fishery management problems, and a continuing responsibility to regularly update this information thereby
providing current information to NMFS stock analysts and the public.
Relevant Publications, Presentations, and Posters
Livingston, P.A., K. Aydin, J. Boldt, J. Ianelli, and J. Jurado-Molina. 2005. A framework for ecosystem impacts
assessment using an indicator approach. ICES Journal of Marine Science 62: 592-597.
2005
Ecosystem Considerations Chapter (for 2006) (.pdf, 10MB)
2004
Ecosystem Considerations Chapter (for 2005)(.pdf, 8MB)
2003
Ecosystem Considerations Chapter (for 2004)(.pdf, 11MB)
2002
Ecosystem Considerations Chapter (for 2003)(.pdf, 5.4MB)
2001
Ecosystem Considerations Chapter (for 2002)(.pdf, 5.4MB)
2000 Ecosystem Considerations Chapter (for 2001)(.pdf, 2MB)
1999 Ecosystem Considerations Chapter (for 2000)(.pdf, 2.9MB)
Ecosystem considerations in fisheries management: linking ecosystem management
goals with ecosystem research :
Livingston, P.A., L-L. Low, and R.J. Marasco. 1999. Eastern Bering Sea ecosystem trends.
p. 140-162.In: Sherman, K. and Q. Tang (eds) Large Marine Ecosystems of the Pacific
Rim: Assessment, Sustainability, and Management. Blackwell Science, Inc. Malden, MA. 465p.
Bycatch, utilization, and discards in the commercial groundfish fisheries of the Gulf of Alaska, eastern Bering Sea, and
Aleutian Islands. (Queirolo et al., 1995. NOAA Tech. Memo.
NMFS-AFSC-58.)(,pdf, 3MB)
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