Two key components of large-scale ecosystem restoration planning are: (1) prioritizing individual projects based on how living resources respond, and (2) selecting and analyzing indicators of living resources to assess restoration progress and performance. We present an approach for performing statistical and ecological modeling analyzes to examine the in situ responses of living resources to restoration actions. The results can be directly used for the prioritization of project areas and the analysis of performance using ecological indicators. The approach uses a flowchart showing the logic of analyzes. With 12 ecological concepts and principles as the foundation, the approach enables the development of an analysis plan that details the statistical and modeling analyzes. We illustrate the approach with the Chesapeake Bay Program. The approach is generally applicable and can be tailored to many large-scale estuarine and coastal restoration programs.

Despite snappers' (family Lutjanidae) commercial and ecological significance, knowledge gaps remain regarding life history, ontogeny and ecology across their range in the Caribbean and south Atlantic. There is also a need to explore the efficacy of marine protected areas (MPAs) as a tool for enhancing nursery and spawning habitat conservation for multiple snapper species. Additionally, even as hurricanes and sargassum inundation have become rising issues for coastal communities, there is a scarcity of data on how commercially important species respond to these environmental disturbances. To address these data gaps, we investigated the spatial and temporal movements of 32 snappers of multiple species in mangrove estuary, reef and shelf edge habitats in St Croix, US Virgin Islands for up to a year using surgically implanted acoustic transmitters and hydrophone arrays. We documented ontogenetic habitat shifts as individuals moved incrementally from juvenile mangrove habitat to adult reef habitat, and several were tracked migrating >30 km to a potential spawning site. Results demonstrated the connectivity of a series of MPAs and their management potential across lutjanid life stages. Size and growth estimates during these movements highlighted the regional variability in lutjanid ontogeny and the need for population-specific life-history studies. Snapper displayed no change in behaviour during a direct hurricane impact, but a significant number of fish made temporary or permanent habitat shifts coinciding with a severe sargassum event inside a bay, providing one of the first descriptions of fishes' behavioural responses to coastal sargassum inundation.

Human activities threaten Earth's biodiversity and its contributions to human well-being. In the ocean, our poor understanding of how biodiversity is distributed limits its management and protection, necessitating reliance on weak abiotic proxies. Here, we propose a scientific framework for assessing marine biodiversity at multiple spatial scales, which exposes gaps in biodiversity knowledge and protection. The framework prioritizes ecologically and societally important taxa, characteristics of effective networks, and existing data. Applying the framework to assess biodiversity inside and outside US marine protected areas, we reveal that these areas contain a fraction of the biodiversity found in US waters. We show that none of the nation's 24 marine ecoregions meet all criteria for an effective protection network and that biodiversity coverage in protected areas varies among regions and taxa. This marine biodiversity assessment highlights concrete recommendations for more strategic protection and validates a scientific framework generalizable to other spatial management uses.

Abstract Suitability modelling and mapping methods were developed to predict spatial distributions and population abundance of fish and macroinvertebrate species in Florida estuaries and coastal zones. Habitats were mapped in Pensacola Bay, Tampa Bay, and Charlotte Harbor using data from fisheries‐independent monitoring. Starting in 1997, suitability functions from habitat suitability index models were linked to habitat grids to create seasonal maps for early‐juvenile, juvenile, and adult life‐stages. After 2003, habitat suitability models (HSM) were linked to seasonal habitat grids to create seasonal maps validated by reciprocal transfer of suitability functions between estuaries. A quantitative method was used with five factor models and models with fewer environmental factors for four species in 2005 and for 11 species by life‐stages in 2009. In 2006, suitability functions transferred from Charlotte Harbor were linked with habitat grids for Rookery Bay and Fakahatchee Bay and HSM maps produced for three time periods to test transferability to estuaries lacking long‐term monitoring. Analyses in 2012 demonstrated that HSM maps for Tampa Bay derived independently from earlier suitability functions were almost identical to HSM maps created using recent suitability functions. Salinity was the most significant environmental variable for predicting abundance in models for species life‐stages in the Peace River and Charlotte Harbor, although nutrient concentrations from upriver may have influenced species’ abundances associated with low (<5 psu) to moderate (5–10 psu) salinities. Population abundance estimates for Charlotte Harbor were derived from seasonal HSM maps created in 2019 and 2021. The 2021 paper compared changes in seasonal population numbers between Baseline and Minimum Flows associated with projected water withdrawals from the Peace River. Electronic logbooks were developed in 2001 and 2004 to collect data on shrimp fishing vessels and HSM maps for the West Florida Shelf created for 16 months in 2004–2005. Methodologies evolved as enabling technology became available.

Exploitation impacts and management options for 15 coral reef fish species central to the commercial and recreational fisheries of the southern Florida USA coral reef ecosystem were evaluated using a length-based risk analysis (LBRA) framework. Population abundance-at-length composition data were obtained from several regional federal-state sampling programs. These and updated life history demographic data were integrated into a length-based numerical cohort model to generate LBRA fishery sustainability metrics from a probabilistic perspective. Three of five groupers, eight of eight snappers, and two of two grunts were below the 40% spawning potential ratio (SPR) stock sustainability minimum; ten of these stocks are at < 20% of their historical spawning biomass, some as low as 5%. Therefore, to ameliorate overfishing for the 13 stocks with sustainability risks & nbsp;>=& nbsp;98%, fisheries management requires increased minimum sizes of first capture (L-c) and significant reductions in fishing mortality (F). To achieve sustainability and reduce sustainability risks area-time protections are also needed. While lack of data often limits the evaluation of management options, this paper establishes benchmarks from which data-limited approaches can move forward. In addition, the approach can be used to cross-check other data-rich analyses. A goal of this work is to effectively balance sustainability risks with fishery production to mitigate overfishing likelihoods and to increase the probability of sustainable fisheries.

Quantifying the spatial and temporal aspects of fish residency is needed to understand energy transfer, habitat function, contaminant exposure, and effective design of MPAs in estuarine systems. The spatial and temporal movements of 19 sea bream (Archosargus rhomboidalis), an ecologically important species in mangrove estuaries of the western Atlantic, were investigated in multiple bays on a Caribbean Island over two years using surgically implanted acoustic transmitters. Fish were almost continuously monitored (residency index 96-100%) by an array of hydrophones during the 11-13 month battery-life of their transmitters. Individual fish utilized small core areas (mean = 9.8 ha during daytime and 11.0 ha at night), displayed daily site fidelity (mean = 57% overlap in day night core area), showed no evidence of an ontogenetic increase in core habitat size, and many exhibited a change in the bays utilized during winter months which is coincident with suspected spawning. Fish captured from the same bay generally occupied the same spaces within the study area, and in similar proportions, compared to fish captured in adjacent bays. Fish from different bays did not mix and wander throughout the ecosystem even though it is all suitable habitat and is used by different groups of localized individuals. This similarity of occupancy patterns is limited to the spatial scale of bays and temporal scales of weeks or months. When considered at the resolution of individual receivers and hourly time steps, most fish are not in close proximity to one another for the vast majority of the time. Although some pairs of fish had as many as 84% of their hourly detections on the same receivers in the month after tagging, they gradually spent less time near each other, even though their overall pattern of movements was consistent at the scale of whole bays. This highlights the importance of examining movements of fish on multiple spatial scales and time-intervals to understand their interactions.

In the marine science community of practice, the concept of ecosystem-based management (EBM) is a management strategy that incorporates the entire ecosystem, including humans, into resource management decisions and is growing in its use to integrate and manage complex social and marine ecosystems. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) Integrated Ecosystem Assessment (IEA) program uses a multidisciplinary framework to help advance EBM and to manage marine resources in an ecosystem context. NOAA has conducted integrated ecosystem assessment research for many years, however, 2020 was the 10-year anniversary of implementation of NOAA's formal IEA framework around the country. This Coastal Management Journal special issue discusses the ten-plus years of IEA experiences with perspectives about and successes in the development and implementation of the NOAA IEA approach. This volume on the NOAA IEA program comprises six manuscripts ranging in content from the history and origin of IEAs in NOAA, to the development and application of IEA components to advance the tenets of EBM in coastal and marine environments.

Surprisingly, little is known about basic life history of the largest moray eel species in the Caribbean region, the green moray eel ( Gymnothorax funebris ). Sixteen eels were captured from the mangrove fringe in multiple bays on St. Croix, USVI, implanted with coded acoustic transmitters, and their movements were tracked for up to 11 months using an array of 37 stationary acoustic receivers. They exhibited high site fidelity in the bays during their residence, using the same general parts of individual bays and did not switch bays except for one individual. There was no relationship between eel size (mean TL = 83 cm, range = 54–126 cm) and home range size (mean area of 95% KUD = 5.8 ha ± 0.7 SE). Most individuals were more frequently detected at night than during the day suggesting greater nocturnal activity. Several of the larger eels (mean TL = 93 cm ± 5.9 SE) showed clear and permanent emigration tracks out of the mangrove estuary to coral reef habitats offshore. For some individuals, these habitat shifts were preceded by exploratory movements away from the eel’s typical home range the night before emigration. All final emigration events took place nocturnally, happened during a single night, and occurred during months from December to May. Mean emigration speed was 3.4 km/h. This study is the first documentation of an ontogenetic habitat shift in moray eels, as well as the first determination of home range size for this species and their site fidelity in mangrove habitats.

Science-based natural resource management is necessary for agencies to effectively meet their goals and mandates. However, this scientific basis needs to be advanced and evolved with ecosystems experiencing unprecedented events that challenge conventional management frameworks. Effectively managing marine resources and achieving agency missions requires more than meeting independent mandates and managing individual resources as chronic stressors overwhelm conventional management frameworks. Global science organizations are transitioning to interdisciplinary and holistic research to integrate human well-being as a key outcome. The United States' principal federal agency tasked with managing coastal and marine ecosystems is the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). NOAA's vision is "healthy ecosystems, communities and economies that are resilient in the face of change". NOAA adopted the Integrated Ecosystem Assessment (IEA) approach to conduct the collaborative science necessary for ecosystem-based management. IEAs have been employed for over a decade to develop science, tools, and collaborations that address complex ecosystem challenges and make progress toward NOAA's vision. This paper demonstrates, through case studies, how scientists, stakeholders, and managers build trust and meaningful relationships from the IEA approach. These case studies further demonstrate how the IEA approach can be adapted to various geographic and management scales to build trust with partners and provide the ecosystem science, including social science, required to build resilient coastal ecosystems, communities, and economies.

In response to calls for marine ecosystem-based management (EBM), the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) developed a multidisciplinary science support framework called integrated ecosystem assessment (IEA). The IEA framework and a national NOAA program for implementing that framework were the culmination of many efforts in the 2000s. At a recent workshop, five leaders from the early days of NOAA IEA development participated in a panel to discuss the history of the framework and program, and to provide recommendations for future work. Panelists intended IEA to be a call to action for scientists and agencies to support EBM, and they designed the framework to be adaptable, scalable, and non-prescriptive so that it could be applied to a range of issues. Panelists emphasized the complementary nature of the processes, tools, and products that make up IEA efforts, and also stressed the need to adapt the IEA approach to shifting management and governance structures. Finally, panelists offered a range of recommendations for future development of the IEA approach, including: (1) broadening the stakeholder base; (2) developing objectives and reference points in partnership with end-users; (3) increasing diversity of IEA practitioners to better reflect the communities that IEA serves; (4) increasing development of readily updatable, real-time products; (5) carefully assessing and prioritizing the demands placed on IEA practitioners; (6) increasing collaboration across disciplines and resource sectors; (7) seeking opportunities to engage with emerging governance structures; and (8) strengthening support for IEA by effectively communicating its stories.

Marine protected areas (MPA) that are created opportunistically must be evaluated in an ecological context to ensure that conservation goals and societal expectations are achievable. This study used acoustic telemetry to investigate movements of reef fish relative to the boundary of the Virgin Islands Coral Reef National Monument (VICRNM) in Coral Bay, U.S. Virgin Islands. Although created to enhance ecosystem protection, VICRNM boundaries were established purely on the basis of adjacency to public versus privately owned lands. Transmitters were implanted into a diversity of reef fish species representative of the local community whose movements were logged for one year on an array of acoustic-receivers that were positioned within, outside, and along the MPA boundary. Results indicate that the boundary has coincidentally aligned with a deep sandy area that does not cross through continuous reef or mangrove habitat. This acted as a natural barrier to movements of species such as Lutjanus griseus, Epinephelus guttatus, Cephalopholus cruentatus, Holocentrus rufus, and Sparisoma aurofrenatum. Other species were more mobile and were routinely detected outside VICRNM, especially at night, such as L. synagris, Haemulon plumierii, and H. sciurus. In addition to fish movements in relation to the VICRNM boundary, network analysis revealed several hotspots of concentrated fish activity including a reef promontory and bay mouths. Investment in enforcement of existing regulations to protect fish is warranted to realize the full potential of this MPA. Using these types of data, management actions in this and other MPAs can be focused on those species and locations that would experience the greatest benefit.

The Ecosystem Approach to Management (EAM) has emerged over the past decades, largely to promote biodiversity conservation, and more recently sectoral tradeoffs in the management of marine ecosystems. To ascertain the state of practice of EAM operationalization, a workshop was held, which included a pre-workshop online survey. The survey gauged international participants' perspectives regarding capacity, knowledge, and application of EAM. When asked about the subject, most survey respondents had a general understanding of EAM, and provided a clear definition. Major perceived challenges to EAM objectives by those surveyed included limited knowledge, conflicting interests, insufficient communication, and limited organizational legal frameworks or governance structures. Of those directly involved in an ecosystem approach, the majority responded that processes were in place or developed for application of integrated knowledge toward assessing key issues within their respective sectors (i. e. fisheries, conservation, energy), and that capacity was generally high. Our results show that most respondents, irrespective of sector or geography, see value in considering an integrated, broader ecosystem approach as they manage their sector. Although many participants were from the North Atlantic region, our results suggest that much of the international community is converging toward continued understanding of broad-scale, integrated approaches to marine resource management.

Author Posting. © The Oceanography Society, 2017. This article is posted here by permission of The Oceanography Society for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Oceanography 30, no. 1 (2017): 90–103, doi:10.5670/oceanog.2017.116.

Many biotelemetry studies seek to detect movement of organisms across reserve boundaries or between adjacent habitat areas. Our objective was to enhance this capability in studies of aquatic organisms that are tagged with acoustic transmitters and tracked by passive data loggers. We installed an experimental shroud on a commercially available telemetry receiver. The shroud was designed to baffle incoming signals from transmitters along one hemisphere of the receiver and therefore more conclusively determine which side of a boundary line that a tagged organism occupies.

This paper presents the Biogeographic Assessment Framework (BAF), a decision support process for marine spatial planning (MSP), developed through two decades of close collaborations between scientists and marine managers. Spatial planning is a considerable challenge for marine stewardship agencies because of the need to synthesize information on complex socio-ecological patterns across geographically broad spatial scales. This challenge is compounded by relatively short time-frames for implementation and limited financial and technological resources. To address this pragmatically, BAF provides a rapid, flexible and multi-disciplinary approach to integrate geospatial information into formats and visualization tools readily useable for spatial planning. Central to BAF is four sequential components: (1) Planning; (2) Data Evaluation; (3) Ecosystem Characterization; and (4) Management Applications. The framework has been applied to support the development of several marine spatial plans in the United States and Territories. This paper describes the structure of the BAF framework and the associated analytical techniques. Two management applications are provided to demonstrate the utility of BAF in supporting decision making in MSP.

Coral reefs and associated fish populations have experienced rapid decline in the Caribbean region and marine protected areas (MPAs) have been widely implemented to address this decline. The performance of no-take MPAs (i.e., marine reserves) for protecting and rebuilding fish populations is influenced by the movement of animals within and across their boundaries. Very little is known about Caribbean reef fish movements creating a critical knowledge gap that can impede effective MPA design, performance and evaluation. Using miniature implanted acoustic transmitters and a fixed acoustic receiver array, we address three key questions: How far can reef fish move? Does connectivity exist between adjacent MPAs? Does existing MPA size match the spatial scale of reef fish movements? We show that many reef fishes are capable of traveling far greater distances and in shorter duration than was previously known. Across the Puerto Rican Shelf, more than half of our 163 tagged fish (18 species of 10 families) moved distances greater than 1 km with three fish moving more than 10 km in a single day and a quarter spending time outside of MPAs. We provide direct evidence of ecological connectivity across a network of MPAs, including estimated movements of more than 40 km connecting a nearshore MPA with a shelf-edge spawning aggregation. Most tagged fish showed high fidelity to MPAs, but also spent time outside MPAs, potentially contributing to spillover. Three-quarters of our fish were capable of traveling distances that would take them beyond the protection offered by at least 40-64% of the existing eastern Caribbean MPAs. We recommend that key species movement patterns be used to inform and evaluate MPA functionality and design, particularly size and shape. A re-scaling of our perception of Caribbean reef fish mobility and habitat use is imperative, with important implications for ecology and management effectiveness.

Ecosystem-based management (EBM) has emerged as a basic approach for managing human activities in marine ecosystems, with the aim of recovering and conserving marine ecosystems and the services they deliver. Integrated ecosystem assessments (IEAs) further the transition of EBM from principle to practice by providing an efficient, transparent means of summarizing the status of ecosystem components, screening and prioritizing potential risks, and evaluating alternative management strategies against a backdrop of environmental variability. In this paper, we draw upon lessons learned from the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's IEA programme to outline steps required for IEA implementation. We provide an overview of the conceptual framework for IEAs, the practical constraints that shape the structure of individual IEAs, and the uses and outcomes of IEAs in support of EBM.

NOAA’s National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science (NCCOS)-Center for Coastal Monitoring and Assessment’s (CCMA) Biogeography Branch, National Park Service (NPS), US Geological Survey, and the University of Hawaii used acoustic telemetry to quantify spatial patterns and habitat affinities of reef fishes around the island of St. John, US Virgin Islands. The objective of the study was to define the movements of reef fishes among habitats within and between the Virgin Islands Coral Reef National Monument (VICRNM), the Virgin Islands National Park (VIIS), and Territorial waters surrounding St. John. In order to better understand species’ habitat utilization patterns among management regimes, we deployed an array of hydroacoustic receivers and acoustically tagged reef fishes. Thirty six receivers were deployed in shallow near-shore bays and across the shelf to depths of approximately 30 m. One hundred eighty four individual fishes were tagged representing 19 species from 10 different families with VEMCO V9-2L-R64K transmitters. The array provides fish movement information at fine (e.g., day-night and 100s meters within a bay) to broad spatial and temporal scales (multiple years and 1000s meters across the shelf). The long term multi-year tracking project provides direct evidence of connectivity across habitat types in the seascape and among management units. An important finding for management was that a number of individuals moved among management units (VICRNM, VINP, Territorial waters) and several snapper moved from near-shore protected areas to offshore shelf-edge spawning aggregations. However, most individuals spent the majority of their time with VIIS and VICRNM, with only a few wide-ranging species moving outside the management units. Five species of snappers (Lutjanidae) accounted for 31% of all individuals tagged, followed by three species of grunts (Haemulidae) accounting for an additional 23% of the total. No other family had more than a single species represented in the study. Bluestripe grunt (Haemulon sciurus) comprised 22% of all individuals tagged, followed by lane snappers (Lutjanus synagris) at 21%, bar jack (Carangoides ruber) at 11%, and saucereye porgy (Calamus calamus) at 10%. The largest individual tagged was a 70 cm TL nurse shark (Ginglymostoma cirratum), followed by a 65 cm mutton snapper (Lutjanus analis), a 47 cm bar jack, and a 41 cm dog snapper (Lutjanus jocu). The smallest individuals tagged were a 19 cm blue tang (Acanthurus coeruleus) and a 19.2 cm doctorfish (Acanthurus chirurgus). Of the 40 bluestriped grunt acoustically tagged, 73% were detected on the receiver array. The average days at large (DAL) was 249 (just over 8 months), with one individual detected for 930 days (over two and a half years). Lane snapper were the next most abundant species tagged (N = 38) with 89% detected on the array. The average days at large (DAL) was 221 with one individual detected for 351 days. Seventy-one percent of the bar jacks (N = 21) were detected on the array with the average DALs at 47 days. All of the mutton snapper (N = 12) were detected on the array with an average DAL of 273 and the longest at 784. The average maximum distance travelled (MDT) was ca. 2 km with large variations among species. Grunts, snappers, jacks, and porgies showed the greatest movements. Among all individuals across species, there was a positive and significant correlation between size of individuals and MDT and between DAL and MDT.

The world’s marine resources face multiple stresses from both human activities and natural environmental perturbations. As pressures on marine resources continue to increase, it has become evident that data required to make informed management decisions, bounded by policy aspects, are either lacking or not easily accessed (Battista and Monaco 2004). Information technologies provide a suite of capabilities that can be used to organize, visualize, analyze, and conduct integrated assessments of geographic data in support of the world’s estuarine, coastal, and marine habitats and associated living marine resources (Parker 1988; Haddad and Michener 1991). However, to make maximum use of geographic information system (GIS), remote sensing, and database management technologies, a clear process must be implemented to consistently and efficiently collect, ingest, and analyze spatial and temporal ecological data sets.

Results • Multi-year acoustic tracking revealed that many Caribbean reef fish move greater distances than previously known • 75% of tracked fish (16 of 18 species) moved more than 1 km • We show that more than half of all eastern Caribbean MPAs are less than 1km in length • Caribbean no-takes are likely to be smaller still with unknown impacts on performance • Tracking and seascape ecology studies will help ecologists and MPA managers to rescale fish habitat and optimize MPA design