Dynamic ocean management, or management that uses near real-time data to guide the spatial distribution of commercial activities, is an emerging approach to balance ocean resource use and conservation. Employing a wide range of data types, dynamic ocean management can be used to meet multiple objectives-for example, managing target quota, bycatch reduction, and reducing interactions with species of conservation concern. Here, we present several prominent examples of dynamic ocean management that highlight the utility, achievements, challenges, and potential of this approach. Regulatory frameworks and incentive structures, stakeholder participation, and technological applications that align with user capabilities are identified as key ingredients to support successful implementation. By addressing the variability inherent in ocean systems, dynamic ocean management represents a new approach to tackle the pressing challenges of managing a fluid and complex environment.

Bycatch of mid-trophic-level anadromous fishes that connect marine and freshwater ecosystems is a growing conservation concern. Anadromous alewife (Alosa pseudoharengus) and blueback herring (Alosa aestivalis) are important components of coastal freshwater and marine food webs, but have experienced dramatic declines in the abundances of spawning adults. Freshwater-focused restoration efforts have yielded few consistent signs of recovery, raising concerns that bycatch in Northwest Atlantic commercial fisheries may be negating these conservation actions. Using data from 15 microsatellites genotyped for baseline populations and bycatch, we conducted genetic stock identification to understand how bycatch was partitioned among previously identified regional genetic stocks. We then combined this information with fishery observer data to estimate genetic stock-specific bycatch mortality for the southern New England Atlantic herring fishery (2012–2013). Bycatch overall, but especially in the Atlantic herring fishery, was disproportionately assigned to the most severely depleted genetic stocks (alewife southern New England stock — 70% of assignments; blueback herring mid-Atlantic stock — 78% of assignments). These genetic stocks overlap in the region surrounding Long Island Sound, suggesting that bycatch taken from this area in recent years may be negatively impacting recovery efforts in this region. Our study suggests that mitigating bycatch on the southern New England fishing grounds may benefit recovery efforts for alewife and blueback herring genetic stocks that have experienced the greatest declines in spawning adult abundances.

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Underwater imaging has long been used in the field of marine ecology but decreasing costs of high-resolution cameras and data storage have made the approach more practical than in the past. Image-based surveys allow for initial samples to be revisited and are non-invasive compared to traditional survey methods that typically involve nets or dredges. Protocols for image-based surveys can vary greatly but should be driven by target species behavior and survey objectives. To demonstrate this, we describe our most recent methods for an Atlantic sea scallop (Placopecten magellanicus) drop camera survey to provide a procedural example and representative results. The procedure is divided into three critical steps that include survey design, data collection, and data products. The influence of scallop behavior and the survey goal of providing an independent assessment of the U.S. sea scallop resource on the survey procedure are then discussed in the context of generalizing the method. Overall, the broad applicability and flexibility of the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth School for Marine Science and Technology (SMAST) drop camera survey demonstrates the method could be generalized and applied to a variety of sessile invertebrates or habitat focused research.