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STATUS: |
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Completed
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FELLOWSHIP DETAILS: |
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2001 Fellow
U.S. Gulf Region
North Atlantic
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LONG-TERM SUSTAINABILITY OF FISH SPECIES IN THE GULF OF MEXICO AND FLORIDA |
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PROJECT DESCRIPTION |
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The goal of Coleman's Pew Fellowship is to evaluate the effectiveness of two marine protected areas in the Gulf of Mexico for management and protection of goliath grouper, red grouper, gag, scamp, red snapper and other species with related habitat and spawning characteristics. The goliath grouper is a candidate for the U.S. Threatened and Endangered Species List and is considered by the American Fisheries Society to be at risk of extinction in North America. The complex reproductive systems of grouper and their tendency to aggregate for spawning at very specific sites and times make them highly vulnerable to overfishing.
Collaborating with fishery management councils and other management agencies, Coleman has been researching and analyzing life history and behavioral characteristics and habitat information about these fish to develop new management models. The long-term goal of all her research is to evaluate the impacts of different management options and ensure long-term sustainability of fish species in the Gulf of Mexico and Florida. She uses a range of tools, including deep diving and remotely operated submersible vehicles to gather samples and data from the fishes' habitats; tagging live fish with visual, sonic, and data tags to follow their movements and creating computer models of fish behavior.
Coleman joined the National Geographic Sustainable Seas Expedition as a chief scientist to map west Florida shelf-edge marine fishery reserves and other spawning sites for grouper habitat and correlate different types of habitat with the presence of spawning populations of reef fish, including grouper, gag and goliath grouper. Using remotely operated vehicles and deep divers, Coleman and her colleagues have captured extensive video footage of fish in their natural environment and have collected physical and biological samples from more than 300 feet underwater.
In addition, they have evaluated existing information about numbers of juvenile goliaths in the Ten Thousand Islands and in Everglades National Park, Florida. They related these estimates to availability of habitat and loss of mangrove nursery habitat which may be preferred habitat for this fish. Coleman found that "recruitment of juveniles is strongest where habitat is suitable and structurally complex".
Coleman has conducted quantitative habitat surveys in several areas where gag spawn including the Madison-Swanson Fishery Reserve and Steamboat Lumps Fishery Reserve. The research and analysis showed that gag populations declined in the absence of a fish management policy as well as when male gag were protected only in their feeding groups. Population size increased and sex ratio returned to historical values when gag were protected during spawning season, when fishing pressure was cut 50 percent or when fishery closures were implemented year-round on female feeding grounds. |
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