Скачать или смотреть Developing and Implementing Ecological Reference Points for Atlantic Menhaden

Speaker: Katie Drew, Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission

Abstract: Atlantic menhaden support one of the largest fisheries by volume on the U.S. East Coast and are also an important prey item for a variety of species, including striped bass, bluefin tuna, and sea birds. The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission manages Atlantic menhaden and several of their predators. With the recent completion and peer review of the Ecological Reference Point (ERP) Benchmark Stock Assessment, the Commission is poised to implement reference points for Atlantic menhaden that explicitly take into account their role as a forage species. This is the first example of a quantitative ecosystem approach to setting reference points on the Atlantic coast and represents a significant advance for forage fish management in the U.S. Here, we review the methods and results of the ERP stock assessment and discuss progress, as well as the next steps for the implementation of ERPs in the Commission’s framework.

About the Speaker: Katie Drew is the Stock Assessment Team Leader at the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission and a member of the Commission’s Ecological Reference Point Working Group. She has been involved with a number of assessments ranging from data-rich species like striped bass and weakfish which supported the ERP assessment to data-poor diadromous species like Atlantic sturgeon and river herring. She did her undergraduate work at Harvey Mudd College in Claremont, CA and her graduate work at the University of Miami.