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Science Center for Marine Fisheries (SCeMFiS)

Center Overview

The Science Center for Marine Fisheries (SCeMFiS) seeks to simultaneously achieve the goals of maintaining sustainable fish and shellfish stocks and preserving sustainable fish and shellfish fisheries. SCeMFiS concentrates on three major groups: shellfish, finfish/squid, and marine mammals.

SCeMFiS conducts research into sustainable management of shellfish and finfish resources and into products that enhance awareness of the health benefits of sustainable seafood and increase opportunities for growth within seafood business sectors.

SCeMFiS' capabilities encompass the range of oceanographic, fisheries, and marine biological disciplines essential for addressing the data resource and analytical challenges in modern-day fisheries management, and the development of the fishing industry including vessel, dealer, and processor components.

Over several decades, U.S. fisheries management has formalized the criteria for sustainability and developed sophisticated modeling tools. However, maximum sustainable yield is limited by insufficient information on the finfish and shellfish stocks and fisheries and a lack of numerical applications to surmount the challenges of sustainability. Rapid climate change and complex management requirements continue to expose the limitations of data resources and assessment and model construction. Changing perceptions by seafood consumers, including a new awareness of sustainability and health benefits, continue to challenge marketing and product development.

Universities

University of Southern Mississippi
Virginia Institute of Marine Science

View Center Website

Center Personnel

Eric N. Powell
Center Director, SCeMFiS
+1 228 818 8810
eric.n.powell@usm.edu

Roger Mann
Site Director
+1 804 684 7360
rmann@vims.edu

Research Focus

The research portfolio represents a range of basic and applied research focused on the issues of data collection, assessment, and management.

A focus on evaluation of the risk of overfishing under a range of regulatory options has expanded into the development of management strategy evaluation models for surfclams and summer flounder, Assessment teams have been positioned to participate in all major assessment efforts in the Mid-Atlantic region and many in the Northeast including surfclams, ocean quahogs, scup, summer flounder, black sea bass, and others.

Shellfish research focuses on two of the three largest shellfish fisheries in the U.S., surfclams and ocean quahogs. The ocean quahog is the oldest non-colonial marine species and poses singular challenges for sustainable management. Research emphasizes the population dynamics of these species and the influence upon them of global warming. A major component is the development of the first age frequencies for ocean quahogs to evaluate long-term recruitment trends. Growth rates are being used to examine the influence of warming bottom waters on clam physiology and productivity. Targeted surveys and data analysis of ongoing surveys are being used to identify the dynamics of range shifts and their affect on regulatory decisions. Development of a growth dataset for ocean quahogs is permitting reconstruction of the history of global warming since circa 1800. Implications include dramatic increases in stock rebuilding potential and the potential use of ocean quahogs as a bottom water proxy.

A research emphasis on forage fish is addressing the perception that forage fish quotas should be reduced to protect ecosystem services provided by these fish. Projects include addressing predator-prey relationships, documenting the basic population dynamics characteristics for chub mackerel, and development of a new survey design for Atlantic menhaden. The menhaden program has expanded to examine the effectiveness of dock-side monitoring of catch for both Atlantic and Gulf menhaden, and provision of important information on reproductive stage, movement and mortality from analysis of tagging data.

SCeMFiS has begun a series of studies designed to examine the influence of wind energy development on East Coast fisheries and vessel transit.

The marine mammal program has opened up a new topic area of research examining the management of grey seals in the U.S. Northeast.

Emphasis on the economics of the fishing industry includes economic evaluations of the scup, surfclam, Loligo squid, and summer flounder fisheries.

Awards

1841112

Phase II IUCRC at University of Southern Mississippi Center for Science Center for Marine Fisheries (SCeMFiS)

The Science Center for Marine Fisheries (SCeMFiS) uses academic and commercial finfish and shellfish fisheries resources to address scientific problems limiting sustainable fisheries. SCeMFiS reflects both a continuing expansion of industry-supported research in an era of increased science rigor in management, and the importance of synergistic collaboration between academics, industry, and regulatory agencies in complex management decisions. Phase II will focus research efforts on: (1) precautionary management that maintains quotas below sustainable levels, thereby limiting economic value and jobs, (2) the influence of climate change on sustainable management and long-range planning, (3) resolution of multiple use conflicts (both spatial and over multi-decadal time frames) between fisheries and energy production, and (4) ecosystem management with a focus on forage fish and ecosystem trophic structure. SCeMFiS will develop essential biological data on fish stocks; improve models of sampling design, population dynamics, and fishery performance; evaluate trends in stock structure and their relation to genetics, physiology and sexual dimorphism; and improve approaches to fishing to reduce discards through gear innovation and modifications in fleet deployment. SCeMFiS offers the convergence of capabilities from a range of oceanographic and marine biological disciplines that is essential to meet the challenges faced by fisheries management. A multi-decadal evolution in fisheries management has formalized the criteria for sustainability and developed numerical models to achieve this goal; but success is limited by insufficient information on fish and shellfish stocks and insufficient development of numerical applications to meet challenges posed by rapid climate change that continues to expose the limitations of present-day data resources and assessment, exacerbating the gap between data availability and data resource needs. SCeMFiS' capabilities encompass the range of oceanographic, fisheries, and marine biological disciplines essential for addressing the data resource and analytical challenges faced by modern-day fisheries. SCeMFiS fosters basic and applied research in the community dynamics, ecology, and environment of the continental shelf. Examples include obtaining the first age-frequency distributions for the US ocean quahog stock, the oldest living non-colonial animals, the first benthic survey east of Nantucket to identify a range shift in surfclams produced by climate change, a software package for evaluation of the adequacy of survey sampling design, and basic biological data on forage fish such as menhaden. These examples show the nexus between applied research directed at basic questions of fishery management and basic research directed at understanding the pelagic, demersal, and benthic realms of the continental shelf. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria. Read More >

1841435

Phase II IUCRC at Virginia Institute of Marine Science: Center for Science Center for Marine Fisheries (SCeMFiS)

The Science Center for Marine Fisheries (SCeMFiS) uses academic and commercial finfish and shellfish fisheries resources to address scientific problems limiting sustainable fisheries. SCeMFiS reflects both a continuing expansion of industry-supported research in an era of increased science rigor in management, and the importance of synergistic collaboration between academics, industry, and regulatory agencies in complex management decisions. Phase II will focus research efforts on: (1) precautionary management that maintains quotas below sustainable levels, thereby limiting economic value and jobs, (2) the influence of climate change on sustainable management and long-range planning, (3) resolution of multiple use conflicts (both spatial and over multi-decadal time frames) between fisheries and energy production, and (4) ecosystem management with a focus on forage fish and ecosystem trophic structure. SCeMFiS will develop essential biological data on fish stocks; improve models of sampling design, population dynamics, and fishery performance; evaluate trends in stock structure and their relation to genetics, physiology and sexual dimorphism; and improve approaches to fishing to reduce discards through gear innovation and modifications in fleet deployment. SCeMFiS offers the coalescence of capabilities from a range of oceanographic and marine biological disciplines that is essential to meet the challenges faced by fisheries management. SCeMFiS provides a mechanism by which a diverse group of fishing companies and organizations can develop a coherent, problem-solving research plan advantaged by access to a wealth of academic resources. Phase 2 will continue to build on this effort. SCeMFiS partners gain ownership of the products developed, and become full partners in assessment and regulatory actions supporting sustainable management. SCeMFiS provides a mechanism by which industry can publicly demonstrate their support for the goal of sustainable seafood. In Phase 2 we will expand efforts to leverage additional research support emphasizing the integrated efforts of the two sites to achieve industry-wide research goals, stabilize precautionary management actions that would otherwise drive quota reductions, reflect management actions that are responsive to climate change driven variations in fish production and accessibility, with all actions in compliance with federal mandates under the Magnuson Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act. These goals will be achieved in an environment that promotes graduate education, enables rapid response to emerging data needs, and provides a combined fishery and economics approach to address societal needs. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria. Read More >

Member Organizations

IUCRC affiliated member organizations are displayed as submitted by the Center. Non-federal organizations are not selected, approved, or otherwise endorsed by the U.S. National Science Foundation.

The opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed are those of the Center author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the U.S. National Science Foundation.