Diverse integrated ecosystem approach overcomes pandemic-related fisheries monitoring challenges

Jarrod A Santora,E J Dick,Jaime Jahncke,Keith M Sakuma,Megan A Cimino,John C Field,Pete Warzybok,Keith D Hanson,Tanya L Rogers

doi:10.1038/s41467-021-26484-5

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic caused unprecedented cancellations of fisheries and ecosystem-assessment surveys, resulting in a recession of observations needed for management and conservation globally. This unavoidable reduction of survey data poses challenges for informing biodiversity and ecosystem functioning, developing future stock assessments of harvested species, and providing strategic advice for ecosystem-based management. We present a diversified framework involving integration of monitoring data with empirical models and simulations to inform ecosystem status within the California Current Large Marine Ecosystem. We augment trawl observations collected from a limited fisheries survey with survey effort reduction simulations, use of seabird diets as indicators of fish abundance, and krill species distribution modeling trained on past observations. This diversified approach allows for evaluation of ecosystem status during data-poor situations, especially during the COVID-19 era. The challenges to ecosystem monitoring imposed by the pandemic may be overcome by preparing for unexpected effort reduction, linking disparate ecosystem indicators, and applying new species modeling techniques.

Highlights

The COVID-19 pandemic caused unprecedented cancellations of fisheries and ecosystemassessment surveys, resulting in a recession of observations needed for management and conservation globally
Ecosystem indicators derived from the Recruitment and Ecosystem Assessment Survey (RREAS) provide reference points to resource managers, to benefit decisions regarding impacts of forage taxa, ranging from salmon populations to mortality events of seabirds and mammals
We developed new models, trained on past survey data, including seabird diet observations, to evaluate abundance of young-of-the-year (YOY) rockfish (Sebastes spp.) and adult northern anchovy (Engraulis mordax), and a species distribution model (SDM) for monitoring status of krill (Euphausiidae) populations[17,18,20]

Summary

Introduction

The COVID-19 pandemic caused unprecedented cancellations of fisheries and ecosystemassessment surveys, resulting in a recession of observations needed for management and conservation globally. By anticipating the loss of oceanographic vessel time for the 2020 survey (i.e., March 2020 lockdown), a range of biological collections were explored, including collecting a limited amount of mid-water trawls by contracting a commercial fishing vessel, other fishery-independent data known to covary with trawl-based observations (seabird diets) through partnership with regional scientific programs, and model-based approaches to estimating key species dynamics[17,18].

Results

Conclusion