Bycatch Avoidance Programs in Two New England (USA) Fisheries

We conducted similar bycatch avoidance programs in two New England fisheries: yellowtail flounder bycatch in the sea scallop closed area fisheries and river herring bycatch in the Atlantic herring and mackerel fishery. These species have different behavioral properties: sea scallops are sessile; yellowtail flounder are demersal with limited but unknown range. Herring and mackerel are pelagic species with wide spatial and temporal ranges; river herring are anadromous. Management actions also differed between the two fisheries. The sea scallop closed area fisheries were limited in time and space with hard quotas for each species. The herring and mackerel fishery was limited in large scale areas by hard quotas, without quotas for river herring. Fishermen were motivated to avoid river herring by strong conservation pressure, river herring are listed as a species of concern and under review for endangered species by the U.S. agencies, which designation would effectively close the Atlantic herring fishery. In the scallop fisheries, we mapped and updated densities for target and bycatch stocks through real-time monitoring and communicated hotspots with captains at sea. In the herring and mackerel fishery we identified densities through port sampling and communicated hotspots to captains at sea. We also reported environmental factors of river herring density such as depth to captains. Percent participation exceeded 75% in each fisheries with evidence of avoidance behavior in both fisheries. Yellowtail bycatch was sharply reduced in the scallop closed area fisheries with some reduction of river herring bycatch in the herring and mackerel fisheries

A Feedback Loop between Dynamin and Actin Recruitment during Clathrin-Mediated Endocytosis

A live-cell imaging study reveals that a positive feedback loop between dynamin and actin contributes to efficient endocytic membrane scission

Identification of persistent benthic assemblages in areas with different temperature variability patterns through broad-scale mapping.

Ecosystem-based management is a place-based approach that considers the relationships between system parts. Due to the complexity of ecosystems in the marine environment it is often difficult to define these relationships in space and time. Maps illustrate spatial concepts. Here we promote ecosystem-based spatial thinking by layering datasets from a larger project that mapped benthic fauna, substrate characteristics, and oceanic conditions on monthly, annual and decadal time scales along the U.S. continental shelf. By combining maps of persistent benthic megafauna and bottom temperature variability over approximately 90,000 km2, we identified wide spread benthic animal assemblages and regional disparity in temperature variability. From a broad-scale perspective the locations of the assemblage appear to be related to sea scallop population dynamics and indicate potential regional differences in climate change resiliency. These findings offer information on a scale that correlates with marine spatial planning, and could be used as a starting point for further investigation. To spur additional analysis and facilitate their linkage to other datasets, these datasets are available through public, online data portals. Overall, this study demonstrates how the growth of maps from single to multiple elements can help promote and facilitate the multifactor, ecosystem-based thinking needed to support regional ocean planning

Visualization of benthic animal dataset created from integration of The University of Massachusetts Dartmouth School of Marine Science and Technology drop camera survey data into the Swept Area Seabed Impact model grid.

<p>The dataset includes abundance information for eight animal groups (sea stars, sea scallops, hermit crabs, skates, red hake, moon snails, crabs, and flatfishes) as well as presence/absence data for four additional groups (bryozoa/hydrozoa, sand dollars, sponges, and burrowing species) on an annual and decadal scale. In addition, each uniquely identified cell contains information on the number, average depth, and variation between the survey stations used to create the data within the cell.</p

Visualization of environmental dataset created from integration of The Northeast Coastal Ocean Forecast System data into the Swept Area Seabed Impact model grid.

<p>The dataset includes information for six environmental variables (surface and bottom temperature and salinity, and maximum and average bottom stress) on monthly, annual and decadal scales. In addition, each uniquely identified cell contains information on the number and variation between the model output locations used to create the data within the cell.</p

Areas of consistent concentrations of eight benthic animal taxa.

<p>Areas of consistent concentrations of eight benthic animal taxa.</p

The spatial extent of datasets integrated into Swept Area Seabed Impact (SASI) model grid.

<p>The University of Massachusetts Dartmouth School of Marine Science and Technology (SMAST) broadscale drop camera survey was conducted from 2003–2012 on a 5.6 km grid, with finer scale surveys on 1 to 4 km grids in certain years, to monitor sea scallop populations. The Northeast Coastal Ocean Forecast System (NECOFS) was used to hindcast oceanographic conditions.</p

Areas and frequency of consistent benthic animal concentrations and bottom temperature anomalies.

<p>The bottom panel displays bottom temperature anomalies only for areas with persistent benthic assemblages. Outlined areas are closed to mobile, bottom fishing gear except for the hatched areas, which are periodically opened to sea scallop fishing.</p