38 Feeding guilds by management bodies
Description: Classification of species guild membership by management bodies.
Indicator family:
Contributor(s): Sarah Gaichas and Sean Lucey.
Affiliations: NEFSC
38.1 Introduction to Indicator
Feeding guilds are groups of species that feed similarly. At the ecosystem level, the food web is likely stable if overall biomass of feeding groups is stable over time, even if populations of species within the groups may be changing.
We defined feeding guilds for fish and invertebrates captured by bottom trawl surveys using diet similarity, either from diet analysis or from literature [69,70], and see NEFSC food habits online
38.2 Key Results and Visualizations
Each management body (MAFMC, NEFSC, State etc) has its managed species associated with different feeding guilds. This data set shows which managed species for each management body are in which guilds.
38.4 Implications
We changed species groupings in response to comments over the years. The table shows feeding guilds used in the 2024-2025 reports. In 2025 an FMP column was added in response to Council requests.
38.5 Get the data
Point of contact: Sarah.Gaichas@noaa.gov
ecodata name: ecodata::species_groupings
Variable definitions
SOE.24 = Feeding guild definitions for State of the Ecosystem report (2024-2025)
MAFMC = Mid Atlantic Fishery Management Council - list of managed species by feeding guild
NEFMC = New England Fishery Management Council - list of managed species by feeding guild
Joint = Jointly managed species by feeding guild
State or Other = Species managed by other bodies listed by feeding guild
FMP = Fishery Management Plan for Council managed species
Indicator Category:
38.7 Accessibility and Constraints
No response
tech-doc link https://noaa-edab.github.io/tech-doc/species_groupings.html