Evaluating response of fish and shellfish to anthropogenic impact mitigation in the Mississippi River delta and coastal region using a coupled modeling approach

Speaker: Dr. Kim de Mutsert, Associate Professor in the Division of Coastal Sciences of the School of Ocean Science and Engineering at the University of Southern Mississippi (USM)

Main environmental impacts affecting coastal Louisiana are wetland loss and coastal hypoxia. Efforts to mitigate these impacts are expected to affect fish and shellfish in the area. Reducing hypoxia can be expected to benefit fish and fisheries, but nutrient load reductions to meet hypoxia reduction goals could reduce productivity. Coastal restoration and protection projects designed to mitigate wetland loss can be expected to benefit fish and shellfish by preserving habitat, but implementation of these projects may affect or displace them. Evaluating potential future outcomes of these types of management actions can be done with scenario-driven simulation modeling. Comparative analysis of implementation of different management strategies versus a future without action can inform management decisions. I present coupled modeling projects that use physical-biological models to simulate the changes in the land- and waterscape, offline coupled to Ecospace models that simulate the effects of these changes on fish and shellfish biomass and distribution. With these projects I will also go through the development of ideas to include species-specific responses to environmental changes in Ecopath with Ecosim modeling. The overarching goal of the coupled modelling approach is improving the capability to assess the effects of alternative management strategies on ecosystem function, living resources, and fisheries landings, and allow for managers to make informed decisions that include potential trade-offs.