Collaborative research to benefit coastal flounder populations and fishers

Four faculty members from three departments in the College of Natural Resources and Environment have received $1.7 million from the National Science Foundation to fund research into the dynamics of socio-environmental factors impacting coastal fisheries.

Holly Kindsvater and Willandia Chaves of the Department of Fish and Wildlife Conservation, Craig Ramseyer of the Department of Geography, and Michael Sorice of the Department of Forest Resources and Environmental Conservation will collaborate with Jonathan van Senten and Fernando Gonçalves of the Virginia Seafood Agricultural Research and Extension Center, part of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, as well as faculty from University of Massachusetts Dartmouth and representatives from coastal fisheries agencies.

“This grant demonstrates how faculty are collaborating for the greater good by leveraging disciplinary strengths and expertise from across the college and by engaging key partners along the coast,” said Keith Goyne, associate dean in the College of Natural Resources and Environment. “Interdisciplinary collaboration is critical for studying such a complex, multifaceted system that is of great economic importance to many coastal communities.”

What they’re researching

This project will address the interactions between fish abundance, limits on allowable catch, and fish ecology from four perspectives:

• Social scientists will survey and interview anglers to see how they have responded to recent management actions put in place because of changes in flounder ecology.
• Economists will analyze contributions of commercial fishing to coastal economies to understand the consequences of changes in management.
• Climate scientists will examine how climate-driven changes in oceanography affect the population ecology of summer flounder.
• An advisory committee with representatives from state and federal entities involved in coastal fisheries will meet each year to examine the results and help predict socio-environmental responses under future climate change scenarios.

Why this is important

Recreational and commercial fisheries for summer flounder produce hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue to coastal economies in the mid-Atlantic and northeastern United States. Climate change and intense fishing pressure have directly affected charter boat captains, commercial seafood fishers, processors, dealers, and recreational fishers.

This research will help develop recommendations for policy solutions that meet multiple sustainability benchmarks, such as ecological sustainability, nutritional provisioning, and economic sustainability.

Intended impact

By collaborating across disciplines, researchers hope to provide interdisciplinary insights into how the integrated dynamics of social and environmental process affect resilience or brittleness of coastal fisheries.