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Applications of Ecosystem Modeling for Fisheries Management, Human Impact Assessment, and Conservation in North American Marine Systems
January 16 @ 11:00 am - 12:00 pm
Speaker: Dr. Hem Nalini Morzaria-Luna
Marine ecologist. Long Live the Kings, Seattle, WA
The management of marine systems is moving towards Ecosystem-Based Management (EBM), a broad approach that recognizes the full range of interactions within the system as a whole and across all sectors, including anthropogenic influences. One tool for EBM is whole-system ecosystem simulation models built within the Atlantis ecosystem modeling framework. Atlantis is a comprehensive modeling framework for marine ecosystems that integrates oceanographic, geochemical, ecological, and anthropogenic processes in a three-dimensional, spatially explicit domain. Atlantis models have been developed for seven marine regions in North America. These Atlantis models have been used to evaluate fisheries management scenarios, the effects of pollution, and conservation strategies. In the Salish Sea and Puget Sound, Atlantis models are being used to explore trophic effects of possible oil spills, PCB contamination, salmon and pinniped management, and watershed management actions. Atlantis ecosystem models will continue to be an invaluable tool for marine and fisheries management under future ocean conditions.
Speaker Bio:
Hem Nalini Morzaria-Luna is a marine ecologist who specializes in applying modeling approaches to the study and management of marine and coastal resources, as well as in analyzing anthropogenic impacts, including climate change. She is originally from Mexico City. She holds an undergraduate degree in Marine Biology from the Universidad Autónoma de Baja California Sur in La Paz, Mexico, and a Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA. She works for two non-profit organizations that conduct marine research and conservation. Since 2005, she has been a researcher at CEDO Intercultural (cedo.org), a U.S.-Mexico bi-national organization focused on marine conservation in the Gulf of California and other Mexican marine systems. At CEDO, she focuses on assessing the effects of management policies and anthropogenic impacts, including those related to fisheries and climate change, on marine systems. In 2017, she joined Long Live the Kings (www.lltk.org) as part of the Salish Sea Marine Survival project, a joint project with the Pacific Salmon Foundation. As part of this project, she developed an Atlantis ecosystem model for Puget Sound, centered on understanding the drivers of salmon early marine survival. She has also participated in the development of Atlantis Ecosystem models for the Gulf of California and Gulf of Mexico and has collaborated with Atlantis models in other regions. She is part of FishMIP, an international network of ecosystem modelers. She was named a COMPASS 2020 Leader for Sea Change.
