Bering Sea | Fishes and Fish Habitats
Advances in species distribution models for essential fish habitat and ecosystem-based fisheries management Presenter: Jodi Pirtle , jodi.pirtle@noaa.gov, NOAA Fisheries Alaska Region Ned Laman , ned.laman@noaa.gov, NOAA Fisheries Alaska Fisheries Science Center Jeremy Harris , jharris@lynker.com, Lynker Megsie Siple , margaret.siple@noaa.gov, NOAA Fisheries Alaska Fisheries Science Center Chris Rooper , Chris.Rooper@dfo-mpo.gc.ca, Fisheries and Oceans Canada Thomas Hurst , thomas.hurst@noaa.gov, NOAA Fisheries Alaska Fisheries Science Center Christina Conrath , christina.conrath@noaa.gov, NOAA Fisheries Alaska Fisheries Science Center James Thorson , james.thorson@noaa.gov, NOAA Fisheries Alaska Fisheries Science Center Species distribution models (SDMs) that map the habitat-related area occupied of marine species have become important tools for ecosystem-based fisheries management (EBFM) in Alaska. US regional fishery management councils and the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) are required to review the essential fish habitat (EFH) components of fishery management plans and update these components based on new habitat science information at least every five years. An SDM method to map the habitat-related area occupied of North Pacific groundfishes and crabs was established in the 2017 EFH 5-year Review for Alaska, using single SDMs fitted to species distribution and abundance in NMFS bottom-trawl surveys and habitat covariates. To improve this approach for the current EFH 5-year Review, we developed SDM ensembles for 37 North Pacific groundfishes and crabs in the eastern Bering Sea, 28 in the Aleutian Islands, and 43 in the Gulf of Alaska across up to three life history stages, resulting in 229 new or revised EFH maps for Alaska. Our study also introduced maps that combine SDM ensembles with habitat related vital rates for a subset of species. A related study is using SDMs to map EFH for Arctic species. The SDM ensemble approach to mapping EFH is a foundational improvement over the single SDM method. Certain SDMs tended to under or over predict area occupied in these studies. The SDM ensemble helps mitigate that bias and can be easily expanded to consider additional constituent models in the future. Moving from using single SDMs to SDM ensembles and other important methods advancements should reduce the magnitude of the change in area occupied attributable to modeling methods in future EFH mapping, and improve ability to identify events in shifting species distributions due to climate change or other habitat impacts. We also highlight where these SDMs are being applied to meet other timely EBFM information needs for Alaska.
Alaska Marine Science Symposium 2023 52
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