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 Reports
Open science emphasis (Bastille, et al., 2021)
Used within Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council's Ecosystem Process (Muffley, et al., 2021)
- Risk assessment (Gaichas, et al., 2018)
- Conceptual modeling (DePiper, et al., 2021)
- Management strategy evaluation (MSE)
The IEA Loop1
Mid-Atlantic Council Ecosystem Approach
2016 Ecosystem Approach to Fishery Management (EAFM) Policy Guidance document: http://www.mafmc.org/s/EAFM-Doc-Revised-2019-02-08.pdf
Mid-Atlantic EAFM framework:
State of the Ecosystem summary
Ecosystem synthesis themes
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.
State of the Ecosystem → Risk assessent example: Commercial revenue
This element is applied at the ecosystem level. Revenue serves as a proxy for commercial profits.
| Risk Level | Definition |
|---|---|
| Low | No trend and low variability in revenue |
| Low-Moderate | Increasing or high variability in revenue |
| Moderate-High | Significant long term revenue decrease |
| High | Significant recent decrease in revenue |
Ranked moderate-high risk due to the significant long term revenue decrease for Mid-Atlantic managed species (red points in top plot)
Key: Black = Revenue of all species combined;
Red = Revenue of MAFMC managed species
State of the Ecosystem → Risk assessent example: Commercial revenue
This element is applied at the ecosystem level. Revenue serves as a proxy for commercial profits.
| Risk Level | Definition |
|---|---|
| Low | No trend and low variability in revenue |
| Low-Moderate | Increasing or high variability in revenue |
| Moderate-High | Significant long term revenue decrease |
| High | Significant recent decrease in revenue |
Ranked moderate-high risk due to the significant long term revenue decrease for Mid-Atlantic managed species (red points in top plot)
Key: Black = Revenue of all species combined;
Red = Revenue of MAFMC managed species
Risk element: CommRev, unchanged
Performance relative to management objectives
Objective: Seafood production 
Risk elements: ComFood and RecFood, unchanged
Indicators: Commercial and recreational landings
Key: Black = Landings of all species combined;
Red = Landings of MAFMC managed species
Multiple drivers: ecosystem and stock production, management, market conditions, and environment
Is biomass driving?
Key: Black = NEFSC survey;
Red = NEAMAP survey
Landings drivers: Ecosystem or stock production? Risk elements: Fstatus, Bstatus mostly unchanged
Key: Orange background = Tipping point overfishing threshold, Link and Watson 2019 Green background = Optimal range, Link and Watson 2019
One change: Butterfish Bstatus
Implications: Seafood Production
Key: Black = Landings of all species combined;
Red = Landings of MAFMC managed species
Drivers:
market dynamics affecting commercial landings of surfclams and ocean quahogs
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
Risks to meeting fishery management objectives
Risks: Offshore Wind Development Element: OceanUse
Indicators: development timeline, revenue in lease areas, survey overlap (full map)
Document Orientation
Spatial scale
A glossary of terms (Memo 5), 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