You are here:
Connecting fishery sustainability to estuarine habitats and nutrient loading
Citation:
Jordan, Steve. Connecting fishery sustainability to estuarine habitats and nutrient loading. Presented at Chesapeake Modeling Symposium, Annapolis, MD, May 28 - 29, 2014.
Impact/Purpose:
Abstract for presentation at the Chesapeake Modeling Symposium
Description:
The production of several important fishery species depends on critical estuarine habitats, including seagrasses and salt marshes. Relatively simple models can be constructed to relate fishery productivity to the extent and distribution of these habitats by linking fishery-dependent population models to habitat-specific densities and survival rates of early life stages. These models support predictions of the marginal effects of habitat loss or restoration on the production, sustainability and values of selected fisheries. Models of blue crab and penaeid shrimp stocks developed for Gulf of Mexico estuaries were used to evaluate various scenarios of habitat loss and restoration. The models also were linked to an empirical model of the effects of nitrogen loading on estuarine seagrasses, from which unit costs of nitrogen loading were computed for effects on shrimp and crab fisheries. The resulting dollar costs were considerably higher than those for several other effects of nitrogen loading. Similar models could be developed for some species of finfishes. Although these techniques could be adapted for Chesapeake Bay, more specific information on habitat dependency would be needed. There is evidence that habitat dependency for blue crabs in mid-Atlantic estuaries differs from that in Gulf of Mexico estuaries.