State of the Ecosystem (SOE) reporting
Improving ecosystem information and synthesis for fishery managers
Ecosystem indicators linked to management objectives (DePiper, et al., 2017)
- Contextual information
- Report evolving since 2016
- Fishery-relevant subset of full Ecosystem Status Reprorts
Open science emphasis (Bastille, et al., 2020)
The IEA Loop1
Report card page 1 and 2
Risk summary bullets page 3
Graphical summary of ecosystem synthesis themes, page 4
Characterizing ecosystem change for fishery management
- Societal, biological, physical and chemical factors comprise the multiple system drivers that influence marine ecosystems through a variety of different pathways.
- Changes in the multiple drivers can lead to regime shifts — large, abrupt and persistent changes in the structure and function of an ecosystem.
- Regime shifts and changes in how the multiple system drivers interact can result in ecosystem reorganization as species and humans respond and adapt to the new environment.
Document Orientation
Spatial scale
A glossary of terms, detailed technical methods documentation and indicator data are available online.
Key to figures
Trends assessed only for 30+ years: more information
Orange line = significant increase
Purple line = significant decrease
No color line = not significant or < 30 yearsGrey background = last 10 years
Performance relative to management objectives
Objective: Seafood production 
Indicators: Commercial landings
Key: Black = Landings of all species combined;
Red = Landings of NEFMC managed species
Recreational landings
Multiple drivers: ecosystem and stock production, management, market conditions, and environment
Landings drivers: Ecosystem and stock production?
Key:
Orange background = Tipping point overfishing threshold, Link and Watson 2019
Green background = Optimal range, Link and Watson 2019
Implications: Seafood Production
Drivers:
decline in commercial landings is most likely driven by the requirement to rebuild individual stocks as well as market dynamics
other drivers affecting recreational landings: shark fishery management, possibly survey methodology
Monitor:
- climate risks including warming, ocean acidification, and shifting distributions
- ecosystem composition and production changes
- fishing engagement
Objective: Commercial Profits 
Indicator: Commercial Revenue
Key: Black = Revenue of all species combined;
Red = Revenue of NEFMC managed species
- GOM high revenue despite low volume
- Fluctuations in GB due to rotational management
Monitor changes in climate and landings drivers:
- Sea scallops and lobsters are sensitive to ocean warming and acidification
Indicator: Bennet--price and volume indices
Objective: Recreational opportunities 
Indicators: Recreational effort and fleet diversity
Implications
Absence of a long-term trend in recreational effort suggests relative stability in the overall number of recreational opportunities in New England
Cumulative weather index and management complexity drivers under construction
Objective: Stability Com ; Rec
Fishery Indicators: Commercial fleet count, fleet diversity
Fishery Indicators: commerical species revenue diversity, recreational species catch diversity
Objective: Stability 
Ecological Indicators: zooplankton and larval fish diversity
Ecological Indicator: expected number of species, NEFSC bottom trawl survey
Implications:
- commercial fishery diversity driven by small number of species
- diminished capacity to respond to future fishing opportunities
- recreational diversity due to species distributions and regulations
- adult diversity in GOM suggests increase in warm-water species
Objective: Fishing community status
Indicators: Social vulnerability, fishery engagement and reliance
New England recreational fishing communities
New England commercial fishing communities
Implications: Highlighted communities may be vulnerable to changes in fishing patterns due to regulations and/or climate change. When any of these communities are also experiencing social vulnerability, they may have lower ability to successfully respond to change. These indicators may also point to communities that are vulnerable to environmental justice issues.
Objectives: Protected species Maintain bycatch below thresholds 
Indicators: Harbor porpoise and gray seal bycatch
Implications:
Currently meeting objectives
The downward trend in harbor porpoise bycatch can also be due to a decrease in harbor porpoise abundance in US waters, reducing their overlap with fisheries, and a decrease in gillnet effort.
The increasing trend in gray seal bycatch may be related to an increase in the gray seal population (U.S. pup counts).
Objectives: Protected species Recover endangered populations
Indicators: North Atlantic right whale population, calf counts
Implications:
Population drivers for North Atlantic Right Whales (NARW) include combined fishery interactions/ship strikes, distribution shifts, and copepod availability.
Unusual mortality events continue for 3 large whale species, harbor and gray seals.
Risks to meeting fishery management objectives
Risks: Climate change
Indicators: ocean currents
Indicators: bottom temperatures
Risks: Climate change
Indicators: marine heatwaves
Risks: Ecosystem productivity
Indicators: primary production
Risks: Ecosystem productivity
Indicators: zooplankton
Implications: increased production by smaller phytoplankton implies less efficient transfer of primary production to higher trophic levels. Monitor implications of increasing gelatinous zooplankton and krill.
Risks: Ecosystem productivity
Indicators: plankton-based forage anomaly and forage fish energy content
Implications: fluctuating environmental conditions and prey for forage species affect both abundance and energy content. Energy content varies by season, and has changed over time most dramatically for Atlantic herring
Risks: Ecosystem productivity
Indicators: fish condition
- Multiple, different condition drivers by species
- Acadian redfish, butterfish and winter flounder more affected by fishing pressure and stock size
- Weakfish, windowpane flounder, and American plaice more affected by local bottom temperatures and zooplankton
Georges Bank
Gulf of Maine
Risks: Ecosystem structure
Indicators: distribution shifts (slide 13), diversity (slide 17), predators
Gray seals increasing
- Breeding season ~ 27,000 US gray seals, Canada's population ~ 425,000 (2016)
- Canada's population increasing at ~ 4% per year
- U.S. pupping sites increased from 1 (1988) to 9 (2019)
- Harbor and gray seals are generalist predators that consume more than 30 different prey species: red, white and silver hake, sand lance, yellowtail flounder, four-spotted flounder, Gulf-stream flounder, haddock, herring, redfish, and squids.
Implications: stable predator populations suggest stable predation pressure on managed species, but increasing predator populations may reflect increasing predation pressure.
Risks: Offshore Wind Development
Risks: Offshore Wind Development
Implications:
Current plans for rapid buildout of offshore wind in a patchwork of areas spreads the impacts differentially throughout the region
1-12% of total average revenue for major New England commerical species in lease areas could be displaced if all sites are developed. Displaced fishing effort can alter fishing methods, which can in turn change habitat, species (managed and protected), and fleet interactions.
Right whales may be displaced, and altered local oceanography could affect distribution of their zooplankton prey.
Scientific data collection surveys for ocean and ecosystem conditions, fish, and protected species will be altered, potentially increasing uncertainty for management decision making.
