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., 2020)
Used within Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council's Ecosystem Process (Muffley, et al., 2020)
The IEA Loop1
State of the Ecosystem report structure: graphical summary (showing 2022)
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 report scale and figures
Spatial scale
A glossary of terms (2021 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
State of the Ecosystem Summary 2022:
Performance relative to management objectives
Seafood production 
, status not evaluated
Profits , status not evaluated
Recreational opportunities: Effort 
; Effort diversity 
Stability: Fishery 
; Ecological 
Social and cultural, trend not evaluated, status of:
- Fishing engagement and reliance by community
- Environmental Justice (EJ) Vulnerability by community
Protected species:
- Maintain bycatch below thresholds
- Recover endangered populations (NARW)
2023 Performance relative to management objectives
Objective: Mid Atlantic Seafood production 
Risk elements: ComFood and RecFood, unchanged
Indicator: Commercial landings
Key: Black = Landings of all species combined;
Red = Landings of MAFMC managed species
Indicators: Recreational harvest
Multiple potential drivers of landings changes: ecosystem and stock production, management actions, market conditions (including COVID-19 disruptions), and environmental change.
Mid Atlantic Landings drivers: Stock status? TAC? Risk elements: Fstatus, Bstatus, MgtControl
Indicator: Stock status
Most stocks have good status. Butterfish B status has improved. Results from Dec 2022 Research Track assessments shown for Spiny dogfish (F above threshold) and bluefish (B above limit) do not represent official management advice.
Indicators: Total ABC or ACL, and Realized catch relative to management target
Few managed species have binding limits; Management less likely playing a role
Implications: Mid Atlantic Seafood Production Drivers
Biomass does not appear to drive landings trends
Key: Black = NEFSC survey;
Red = NEAMAP survey
- Declining managed benthos, aggregate planktivores
- Recreational drivers differ: shark fishery management, possibly survey methodology
Monitor:
climate risks including warming, ocean acidification, and shifting distributions
ecosystem composition and production changes
- fishing engagement
Objective: New England Seafood production 
Indicators: Commercial landings
Key: Black = Landings of all species combined;
Red = Landings of NEFMC managed species
Indicators: Recreational harvest
Multiple drivers: ecosystem and stock production, management, market conditions (including COVID-19 disruptions), and environmental change
New England Landings drivers: Stock status? Survey biomass?
Indicator: Stock status
Stocks below BMSY increased from 8 to 9, stocks below ½ BMSY decreased from 6 to 4. Spiny dogfish results from RT are unofficial. Management still likely playing large role in seafood declines
Indicator: Survey biomass
Biomass availability still seems unlikely driver
New indicators for 2023: New England Realized catch compared to specified catch
Implications: Discuss
- Limited data for 2021
- Most species with catch > management target from Multispecies FMP
Implications: New England 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: Mid Atlantic Commercial Profits Risk element: CommRev, unchanged
Indicator: Commercial Revenue
Key: Black = Revenue of all species combined;
Red = Revenue of MAFMC managed species
Monitor changes in climate and landings drivers:
- Climate risk element: Surfclams and ocean quahogs are sensitive to ocean warming and acidification.
- pH in surfclam summer habitat is approaching, but not yet at, pH affecting surfclam growth
Indicator: Bennet--price and volume indices
Objective: New England Commercial Profits 
Indicator: Commercial Revenue
Key: Black = Revenue of all species combined;
Red = Revenue of NEFMC managed species
Both regions driven by single 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: Mid Atlantic Recreational opportunities ; Risk element: RecValue, decreased risk; add diversity?
Indicators: Recreational effort and fleet diversity
Implications
- Increased angler trips in 2020 relative to previous years strongly influenced the previously reported long term increase in recreational effort. Adding 2021 data, recreational effort (angler trips) has no long term trend.
- The increasing long term trend from 2021 changed the risk categories for the RecValue element to low-moderate (previously ranked high risk). No trend indicates low risk.
- Decline in recreational fleet diversity suggests a potentially reduced range of opportunities.
- Driven by party/charter contraction and a shift toward shore based angling.
Objective: New England 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
Objective: Mid Atlantic Environmental Justice and Social Vulnerability Risk element: Social
Indicators: Environmental justice vulnerability, commercial fishery engagement and reliance
Mid-Atlantic commercial fishing communities
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.
Objective: Mid Atlantic Environmental Justice and Social Vulnerability Risk element: Social
Indicators: Environmental justice vulnerability, recreational fishery engagement and reliance
Mid-Atlantic recreational fishing communities
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.
Objective: New England Environmental Justice and Social Vulnerability
Indicators: Environmental justice vulnerability, commercial fishery engagement and reliance
New England commercial fishing communities
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.
Objective: New England Environmental Justice and Social Vulnerability
Indicators: Environmental justice vulnerability, recreational fishery engagement and reliance
New England recreational fishing communities
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.
Objective: Mid Atlantic Fishery Stability Risk elements: FishRes1 and FleetDiv, unchanged
Fishery Indicators: Commercial fleet count, fleet diversity
Most recent fleet counts at low range of series
Fishery Indicators: commercial species revenue diversity, recreational species catch diversity
Most recent near series low value. Covid role?
Objective: Mid Atlantic Ecological Stability Risk element: ecological diversity put aside, new indices
Ecological Indicators: zooplankton and larval fish diversity
Ecological Indicator: expected number of species, NEFSC bottom trawl survey
Implications:
- stable capacity to respond to the current range of commercial fishing opportunities
- recreational catch diversity maintained by a different set of species over time
- monitor zooplankton diversity driven by declining dominant species
Objective: New England Fishery Stability Com ; Rec
Fishery Indicators: Commercial fleet count, fleet diversity
Most recent around lowest points in series
Fishery Indicators: commerical species revenue diversity, recreational species catch diversity
Most recent lowest point in series. Covid role?
Objective: New England Ecological 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
Objectives: All Areas Protected species Maintain bycatch below thresholds
Indicators: Harbor porpoise and gray seal bycatch
Implications:
Currently meeting objectives
Risk element: TechInteract, evaluated by species and sector: 14 low, 6 low-mod, 3 mod-high risk, unchanged
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: All Areas 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.
2023 Risks to meeting fishery management objectives
Risks: Climate change Mid Atlantic
Indicators: ocean currents, bottom and surface temperature, detrended marine heatwaves
Risks: Climate change Mid Atlantic, new bottom temperature indicators
In contrast to SST, long term BT is increasing in winter as well as other seasons
Heatwaves in bottom temperature last longer and happen later in the season than surface heatwaves. No consistent long term annual trend in bottom or surface heatwaves.
Risks: Climate change Mid Atlantic, new seasonal transition indicators
Mid Atlantic
Coastwide
Risks: Climate change New England
Indicators: ocean currents, bottom and surface temperature
Risks: Climate change New England
Indicators: detrended marine heatwaves
Risks: Climate change New England, new bottom temperature indicators
Risks: Climate change New England, bottom heatwaves cont'd + new seasonal transition indicators
Risks: Climate change and estuarine habitat Risk element: EstHabitat 11 low, 4 high risk species
Indicators: Chesapeake Bay temperature and salinity
Indicator: SAV trends in Chesapeake Bay
Indicator: Water quality attainment
Risks: Climate change and offshore habitat
Indicator: cold pool indices
Indicator: Mid Atlantic Ocean acidification
Indicator: warm core rings
Indicator: New England Ocean acidification
Risks: Ecosystem productivity Mid Atlantic Risk element: EcoProd
Indicators: chlorophyll, primary production, 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 Mid Atlantic Risk element: EcoProd
Indicator: fish condition
Indicator: fish productivity anomaly
Implications: Species in the MAB had mixed condition in 2022. Survey-based fish productivity continues a general decline. Update? 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 productivity New England
Indicators: chlorophyll, primary production
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 New England
Indicator: fish condition
Georges Bank
Gulf of Maine
Implications: Many species in New England showed improved condition in 2021-2022. 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 productivity New England
Indicator: fish productivity anomaly
Small fish per large fish biomass anomaly on Georges Bank. The summed anomaly across species is shown by the black line.
Small fish per large fish biomass anomaly in the Gulf of Maine. The summed anomaly across species is shown by the black line.
Survey based fish productivity shows no clear trend in New England.
Risks: Ecosystem productivity, new fish productivity anomaly based on stock assessments
Mid Atlantic region stocks
New England region stocks
Methods from (Perretti, et al., 2017). Black line indicates sum where there are the same number of assessments across years.
Risks: Ecosystem productivity All regions
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 structure All regions
Indicators: distribution shifts, diversity (previous sections) predator status and trends here
No trend in aggregate sharks
- No obvious increase in shark populations
- Most highly migratory fish predators are not depleted:
- 10 above B target
- 7 above B limit but below B target
- 2 below B limit
HMS populations mainly at or above target
Risks: Ecosystem structure New England
Indicators: 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: Ecosystem structure New England
Common tern productivity decline reflecting prey, other drivers? Discuss
Risks: Ecosystem structure: new diet based forage fish index
Mid Atlantic
New England
Is the forage base changing over time?
VAST model using 22 predators to sample 20 forage fish groups, includes more unmanaged forage (anchovies, sandlance) than direct survey trawl data.
Risks: Habitat: new habitat diversity trend indicators
Implications: discuss
Implications: Climate change and managed species Risk elements unchanged, new info:
Climate: 6 low, 3 low-mod, 4 mod-high, 1 high risk
Multiple drivers with different impacts by species
- Seasonal estuarine conditions affect life stages of striped bass, blue crabs, summer flounder, black sea bass differently
- Chesapeake summer hypoxia, temperature better than in past years, but worse in fall
- Habitat improving in some areas (tidal fresh SAV, oyster reefs), but eelgrass declining
- Ocean acidification impact on vulnerable surfclams
- Areas of low pH identified in surfclam and scallop habitat
- Lab work identified pH thresholds for surfclam growth
- Warm core rings important to Illex availability. Fishing effort concentrates on the eastern edge of warm core rings, where upwelling and enhanced productivity ocurr
DistShift: 2 low, 9 mod-high, 3 high risk species
Shifting species distributions alter both species interactions, fishery interactions, and expected management outcomes from spatial allocations and bycatch measures based on historical fish and protected species distributions.
New Indicator: protected species shifts
Risks: Offshore Wind Development Mid Atlantic Element: OceanUse
Indicators: development timeline, fishery and community specific revenue in lease areas
Risks: Offshore Wind Development New England
Indicators: fishery and community specific revenue in lease areas
