Project Funding: 2008 - 2012

NRA: 2007 NASA: Decision Support through Earth Science Research Results   

Funded by NASA

Abstract:
This research focuses on extending Earth science research results to decision support systems in the Ecological Forecasting national priority area. The activity seeks to improve the existing National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) decision making system for population assessment and management of Atlantic bluefin tuna (Thunnus thynnus thynnus). The research team is a multi-sector and multi-disciplinary team composed of government (NOAA_NMFS), academic (University of South Florida Institute for Marine Remote Sensing) and commercial (Roffer’s Ocean Fishing Forecasting Service, Inc.). The goal is to reduce the variance in the estimates of adult Atlantic bluefin tuna spawning stock abundance in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM) through the development of spawning site habitat classification and catchability indices of the larvae. These will be derived from the innovative use of several earth orbiting satellites. The estimates of the adult spawning biomass are critical in understanding changes in the population size used to derive international and national fisheries management strategies and allocations. Accurate estimates of adult population size are critical in understanding the population dynamics of an internationally important fish that supports commercial and recreational fisheries. Functional links have been established between climate variability, regional-scale oceanographic processes and recruitment to fisheries. The exact mechanisms driving many of these links remain poorly understood and influences on the transport and survival of pelagic larval stages are likely to be significant. We propose to analyze these data in combination to develop a time-series of enhanced biological and oceanographic indicators for the GOM fisheries. While the catchability indices will be used in developing indices for the population analyses, the habitat classification will aid in developing models forecasting where concentrations of larvae are likely to occur leading to an adaptive sampling strategy.

Publications:

Goni, G. J., Trinanes, J. A., MacFadyen, A., Streett, D., Olascoaga, M. J., Imhoff, M. L., Muller-Karger, F., Roffer, M. A. 2015. Variability of the Deepwater Horizon Surface Oil Spill Extent and Its Relationship to Varying Ocean Currents and Extreme Weather Conditions in: Mathematical Modelling and Numerical Simulation of Oil Pollution Problems: The Reacting Atmosphere. Springer International Publishing, 1-22. DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-16459-5_1

Habtes, S., Muller-Karger, F. E., Roffer, M. A., Lamkin, J. T., Muhling, B. A. 2014. A comparison of sampling methods for larvae of medium and large epipelagic fish species during spring SEAMAP ichthyoplankton surveys in the Gulf of Mexico. Limnology and Oceanography: Methods. 12(2), 86-101. DOI: 10.4319/lom.2014.12.86

Huang, M., Carmichael, G. R., Chai, T., Pierce, R. B., Oltmans, S. J., Jaffe, D. A., Bowman, K. W., Kaduwela, A., Cai, C., Spak, S. N., Weinheimer, A. J., Huey, L. G., Diskin, G. S. Impacts of transported background pollutants on summertime Western US air quality: model evaluation, sensitivity analysis and data assimilation DOI: 10.5194/acpd-12-15227-2012

Muhling, B. A., Brill, R., Lamkin, J. T., Roffer, M. A., Lee, S., Liu, Y., Muller-Karger, F. 2016. Projections of future habitat use by Atlantic bluefin tuna: mechanistic vs. correlative distribution models. ICES Journal of Marine Science. 74(3), 698-716. DOI: 10.1093/icesjms/fsw215

Muhling, B. A., Lamkin, J. T., Alemany, F., Garcia, A., Farley, J., Ingram, G. W., Berastegui, D. A., Reglero, P., Carrion, R. L. 2017. Reproduction and larval biology in tunas, and the importance of restricted area spawning grounds. Reviews in Fish Biology and Fisheries. 27(4), 697-732. DOI: 10.1007/s11160-017-9471-4

Muhling, B. A., Roffer, M. A., Lamkin, J. T., Ingram, G. W., Upton, M. A., Gawlikowski, G., Muller-Karger, F., Habtes, S., Richards, W. J. 2012. Overlap between Atlantic bluefin tuna spawning grounds and observed Deepwater Horizon surface oil in the northern Gulf of Mexico. Marine Pollution Bulletin. 64(4), 679-687. DOI: 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2012.01.034

PASTORET, P., CHAISEMARTIN, D. 2011. L'importance de la gouvernance et de la fiabilite de la certification veterinaire. Revue Scientifique et Technique de l'OIE. 30(1), 339-345. DOI: 10.20506/rst.30.1.2038

2011 NASA Carbon Cycle & Ecosystems Joint Science Workshop Poster(s)

• Importance of Mesoscale Features in the Gulf of Mexico on Larval Pelagic Fish Abundance   --   (Sennai Habtes, Frank Muller-Karger, Mitchell Alan Roffer, John T Lamkin, Barbara A. Muhling, David Lindo-Atichati, Matthew A. Upton, Gregory J. Gawlikowski)   [abstract]   [poster]
• Improving The NOAA NMFS and ICCAT Atlantic Bluefin Tuna Fisheries Management Decision Support System Final Research Results   --   (Mitchell A. Roffer, John T. Lamkin, Frank Muller-Karger, Barbara A. Muhling, Walter Ingram)   [abstract]

More details may be found in the following project profile(s):

• NASA Biological Diversity & Ecological Conservation (BDEC) Project Profile