Diverse integrated ecosystem approach overcomes pandemic-related fisheries monitoring challenges

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.

Initial impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on Australian fisheries production, research organisations and assessment: shocks, responses and implications for decision support and resilience

“…Greater use of electronic monitoring was advocated including e-monitoring on commercial vessels and remote data collection methods for recreational fisheries such as boat ramp surveillance using CCTV and online survey methods. The strategy reported by many organisations of seeking alternate fishery-dependent data opportunistically was similar to those reported by other fisheries research organisations globally (see Huveneers et al 2021 ; Santora et al 2021 ).…”

“…In contrast to the commercial fisheries sector, Australia’s fisheries research organisations generally experienced disruptions triggered directly by government-led pandemic containment measures, combined with organisational COVID-19 risk management measures, and knock-on effects arising from impacts to commercial fishing levels. The degree of disruption and impact varied across jurisdictions and organisations, as in some jurisdictions research staff were deemed ‘essential workers’, although the types of disruption were broadly consistent with those reported by other fisheries research organisations globally (see Haas et al 2021 , Link et al 2021 ; Santora et al 2021 ).…”

“…Short-term adaptive responses by research organisations reveal the extent of organisational capacity for not only adaptive risk management (Santora et al 2021 ) but also for innovation (Link et al 2021 ). The COVID-19 shocks observed presented novel challenges which—in turn—led to conditions of exceptionalism and an enabling environment for novel and experimental strategies to be trialled (Huveneers et al 2021 ; Kemp et al 2020 ).…”

“…Historically, drivers of innovation in fisheries science programs have included the need to account for long-term trends (for example, climate-driven changes) or expanded scope of assessment in response to social change and have tended towards increasing complexity and lags in implementation (Bradley et al 2019 ; Gorospe et al 2016 ). Globally and more generally, rapid adaptive and innovative responses to the COVID-19 crisis by fisheries research organisations and management agencies—including alternative methods of monitoring and assessment—are becoming institutionalised as pay-offs are recognised (Kemp et al 2020 ; Santora et al 2021 ).…”

State of the California Current Ecosystem in 2021: Winter is coming?

“…Off Newport, Oregon, we predicted that larvae of coastal taxa such as Pacific Sandlance (Ammodytes hexaptarus) would increase under cool conditions, while southern, offshore taxa such as Anchovy and Sardine (which were at record highs during the 2014-2016 MHW) would decrease (Auth et al, 2018). Off California, we hypothesized that young of the year (YOY) rockfishes, YOY sanddabs (Citharichthys sordidus plus C. stigmaeus), YOY Pacific Hake (Merluccius productus), and market squid would increase, while adult Sardine, adult Anchovy, and mesopelagic species (e.g., Myctophidae) would decrease (Ralston et al, 2015;Santora et al, 2021a;Santora et al, 2021b). Given that Anchovy recruitment was very high and Sardine recruitment was low in recent years (Thompson et al, 2019b), however, we expected that adult Anchovy would remain high in 2021 despite the cool conditions and that adult Sardine abundances would be low based on persistence from 2020.…”