This project will integrate information on ecosystem stressors and predator-prey interactions into the fisheries assessment and management process in the Gulf of Mexico.

This project compiled and evaluated existing information on fish spawning aggregations in the Gulf of Mexico as the basis to design a cooperative, Gulf-wide conservation and monitoring program focused on fish spawning aggregations. The investigators compiled existing biological and fisheries information for Gulf of Mexico species known or likely to form spawning aggregations and identified existing datasets and monitoring programs in the Gulf of Mexico that could inform regional monitoring of spawning aggregations.

This dataset includes microplastic concentration and ingestion information from samples of sargassum and open water habitats collected in the northern Gulf of Mexico during four cruises across three years (2017-2019). Microplastic concentration data includes samples from both Sargassum and open water habitats collected in May and July of 2018. Microplastic ingestion data includes sargassum-associated juvenile fish samples from sargassum habitats collected in July 2017, May 2018, July 2018, and May 2019.

Measurements made under the Linking habitat to recruitment: evaluating the importance of pelagic Sargassum to fisheries management in the Gulf of Mexico, in the Northern Gulf of Mexico. Collaboration with USF and USM.

This project explores how oyster, blue crab, and spotted seatrout populations respond to human and environmental changes with the goal of improving the management of these economically and culturally important species.

This project explores how oyster, blue crab, and spotted seatrout populations respond to human and environmental changes with the goal of improving the management of these economically and culturally important species.

This project will design, test, and put into use a decision support tool to assist resource managers and oyster farmers in optimizing oyster resources in the State of Mississippi.

This project explores how oyster, blue crab, and spotted seatrout populations respond to human and environmental changes with the goal of improving the management of these economically and culturally important species.

This project investigated the influence of the Mississippi River and its delta on the oceanography, ecology, and economy of the Gulf of Mexico; identified gaps in data collection, model availability and model integration that would allow managers to better sustainably manage and monitor the Gulf´s natural resources; evaluated the role of extreme events and potential climate change impacts on the oceanography, ecology and economy of the Gulf of Mexico; and disseminated the results of this work. The investigators also compiled historical outputs from physical oceanographic models to provide an overview of the Gulf of Mexico and the role of riverine and deltaic forcings. The environmental drivers that the investigators examined include variability in magnitude of Mississippi River discharge, changes in the direction of river plume, variability in coastal currents, extreme weather events (cold fronts and hurricanes), and nutrient and carbon loadings.