Monitoring dead zone oceanographic parameters and understanding how hypoxia impacts fisheries in the region is key to a successful Cooperative Hypoxia Assessment and Monitoring Program. Credit: LUMCON

NCCOS and NOAA’s Northern Gulf Institute (NGI) convened the First Fisheries Monitoring Workgroup (FMW) at the Mississippi State University’s Science & Technology Center located on the grounds of NOAA/Northern Gulf Institute (NGI) in Stennis Space Center, MS on May 15-17, 2018.

The FMW is one of the eight working groups of the Cooperative Hypoxia Assessment and Monitoring Program (CHAMP), a grass-roots effort to monitor hypoxia in the Northern Gulf of Mexico.  The FMW has two goals that together aim to broaden the understanding of the effects of hypoxia on key fisheries in the region: 1) integrate fisheries surveys into CHAMP by leveraging and expanding upon current monitoring activities and compiling available data, and 2) serve as a management advisory group for projects of the Northern Gulf of Mexico Ecosystem and Hypoxia Assessment Program (NGOMEX) to help ensure the effectiveness of project tools and outputs towards fisheries management applications.

The workshop brought together members of the FMW, the Principal Investigators (PIs) of the three NGOMEX projects, and regional fishery management and advisory members to share information and progress. The first day of the workshop focused on providing participants with an overview of the CHAMP and FMW, and examining updates of recently compiled lists of fisheries monitoring activities. The second day was devoted to learning about and discussing the preliminary results of the science and management application components of the NGOMEX projects. The final day of the workshop provided a time for the NGOMEX PIs to discuss and strategize how best to coordinate their interactions and research to yield a consistent and comparable set of results useful to the management of fish and fisheries in the Northern Gulf of Mexico.

Attendees of the Fisheries Monitoring Workgroup (FMW) Workshop held 15-17 May 2018 at the Mississippi State University Science & Technology Center in Stennis Space Center, MS. Credit: NOAA

A report of the workshop will be forthcoming.

For more information, contact David.Hilmer@noaa.gov or Trevor.Meckley@noaa.gov.