SEMINAR: MBF602 9/16/11 S/A 103, 12 NOON Christine Harvey: EcoGIS: GIS Tools Supporting Ecosystem Approaches to Fisheries Management

["Maxine Williams" <mwilliams@rsmas.miami.edu>]

MBF602 9/16/11 S/A 103, 12 NOON Student Speaker Christine Harvey

 

EcoGIS: GIS Tools Supporting Ecosystem Approaches to Fisheries Management

 

An ecosystem approach to fisheries strives to balance diverse societal objectives, by taking into account the knowledge and uncertainties about biotic, abiotic and human components of ecosystems and their interactions and applying an integrated approach to fisheries within ecologically meaningful boundaries and is a priority of the UN FAO. Geospatial analysis is a critical component towards furthering the adoption of ecosystem approaches to fisheries management. EcoGIS is a suite of customized geospatial tools for spatial analysis and decision support addressing common issues facing marine scientists and fisheries managers.  This effort was a pilot project to aid in the development of fishery ecosystem management plans for Fishery Management Councils on the east coast. NOAA National Marine Fisheries Service, in collaboration with NOAA National Ocean Service, took advantage of GIS to develop tools to facilitate spatially-explicit ecosystem approaches to fisheries management. Management issues examined for tool development included measuring impacts due to altering closed-area boundaries; assessing bycatch; and characterizing areas based on essential fish habitats, habitat areas of particular concern, critical habitats, gear impacts, and species life-state distribution. This effort was unique in both its collaborative nature and spatial extent-from the Gulf of Maine through the Gulf of Mexico.

 

Christine L. Harvey

BSc. Zoology, Ohio State University: 1994

MSc. Spatial Information Engineering, University of Maine: 2002

Entered Program:  Fall 2011

Advisor: Dr. Jerry Ault