State of the Ecosystem (SOE) reporting
Improving ecosystem information and synthesis for fishery managers using Integrated Ecosystem Assessment Approach (IEA)
Ecosystem indicators linked to management objectives (DePiper, et al., 2017)
Two annual reports evolving since 2016
- Contextual information
- Fishery-relevant subset of full Ecosystem Status Reprorts
Open science emphasis (Bastille, et al., 2020)
The IEA Loop1
Report card page 1 and 2
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: New England Seafood Production 
Indicators: Commercial landings
Key: Black = Landings of all species combined;
Red = Landings of NEFMC managed species
Multiple drivers: ecosystem and stock production, management, market conditions (including COVID-19 disruptions), and environmental change
Indicators: Recreational harvest
*US Seafood Industry and For-Hire Sector Impacts from COVID-19: 2020 in Perspective
Objective: New England Commercial Profits 
Indicators: Revenue and Bennet Index of Price and Volume
Key: Black = Revenue of all species combined;
Red = Revenue of NEFMC managed species
- Driven by single species.
- GB: Fluctuations associated with rotational management areas.
- GB: High revenue caused by high volume/price from scallops.
- GOM: Total regional revenue high due to high lobster prices, despite lower volume.
Objective: Mid-Atlantic Recreational Opportunities 
;
Indicators: Recreational effort and fleet diversity
Implications:
- Increased angler trips in 2020 relative to previous years strongly influence the long term increase in recreational effort. Recreational effort (angler trips) has increased over the long term, with 2020 effort above the long-term average.
Decline in recreational fleet diversity suggests a potentially reduced range of opportunities.
Driven by party/charter contraction (from a high of 24% of angler trips to 7% currently), and a shift toward shore based angling.
Objective: New England Stability Com ; Rec 
Fishery Indicators: commercial species revenue diversity, recreational species catch 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: Mid-Atlantic Environmental Justice and Social Vulnerability
Indicators: Environmental justice vulnerability, commercial fishery engagement and reliance
Implications: Highlighted communities may be vulnerable to changes in fishing patterns due to regulations and/or climate change. When also experiencing environmental justice issues, they may have lower ability to successfully respond to change.
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.
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.
Additional potential stressors include offshore wind development, which overlaps with important habitat areas used year-round by right whales, including mother and calf migration corridors and foraging habitat.
Unusual mortality events continue for 3 large whale species.
Risks to meeting fishery management objectives
Risks: Climate Change
Indicators: MAB surface and bottom temperature
Indicators: MAB marine heatwaves
Risks: Climate change
Indicators: ocean currents
Indicator: warm core rings
Risks: Climate change
Indicator: cold pool indices
Indicator: ocean acidifictaion
Implications: Changes in cold pool could have impacts on multiple managed species. Areas of lower pH are in known surfclam habitat.
Risks: Climate change and estuarine habitat
Indicators: Chesapeake Bay temperature
Indicator: SAV trends in Chesapeake Bay
Indicator: water quality attainment
Risks: Ecosystem productivity
Indicators: chlorophyll, primary production, phytoplankton size class
Implications: increased production by smaller phytoplankton implies less efficient transfer of primary production to higher trophic levels.
Risks: Ecosystem productivity
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
Indicator: fish condition
Indicator: fish productivity anomaly
Implications: Most species in the MAB had below average or poor condition again in 2021. Preliminary results of synthetic analyses show that changes in temperature, zooplankton, fishing pressure, and population size influence the condition of different fish species.
Risks: Ecosystem Structure
Indicator: species distribution
Implications: Species as a whole moving could mean new species interactions and potential for fishers.
Risks: Ecosystem structure
Indicators: predator status and trends
Implications: No trend in aggregate sharks and HMS populations mainly at or above taget. Stable predator populations suggest stable predation pressure on managed species, but increasing seal populations may reflect increasing predation pressure.
Risks: Offshore Wind Development
Indicators: development timeline, fishery and community specific revenue in lease areas
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.
Development will affect species differently, negatively affecting species that prefer soft bottom habitat while potentially benefiting species that prefer hard structured habitat.
Up to 20% of annual commercial landings and revenue for Mid-Atlantic species occur in lease areas.
