National marine sanctuaries protect America’s most iconic natural and cultural marine resources. To assess the effectiveness of the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary (FGBNMS) at protecting habitat for key fish species, scientists are working to better understand how different fishes use these habitats. Looking for innovative ways to communicate this effort to resource managers and the general public, the researchers have produced a short video (2 minutes) describing their plans to track fishes in the northwest Gulf of Mexico.
The project, which began in September 2021, is investigating how a wide-range of reef-associated species use the banks and reefs of the FGBNMS. Using acoustic and satellite telemetry to track fish movements, researchers can study fish behavior, including movement across the ecosystem and habitat preferences across the sanctuary. This data will help resource managers implement effective measures to protect these habitats that these species depend on for their survival.
This project is led by Texas A&M University and the video was produced by collaborators at Mississippi State University’s Marine Fish Ecology group.