[Coral-List] NOAA Seminar today: Corals, Canyons, and Conservation: Science Based Fisheries Management Decisions in the Eastern Bering Sea

Tracy Gill - NOAA Federal tracy.gill at noaa.gov
Tue Sep 5 09:31:15 EDT 2017


OneNOAA Science Seminar Series <https://www.nodc.noaa.gov/seminars/>
Please forward to folks who might be interested; apologies for
cross-posting; thanks.

*Title: Corals, Canyons, and Conservation: Science Based Fisheries
Management Decisions in the Eastern Bering Sea*

Speakers: Steve MacLean, Protected Species Coordinator, North Pacific
Fishery Management Council and Dr. Chris Rooper, Research Fish Biologist,
NOAA, NMFS, AFSC, RACED.
Both presenting remotely

When: TODAY, Sept. 5, 2017, 12 to 1 pm EDT

Where: Via webinar, or in Silver Spring at NOAA SSMC4, Room 8150

Sponsor: NOAA's National Ocean Service Science Seminar; seminar host is
Tracy.Gill at noaa.gov

Webinar Access: Mymeeting webinar uses phone for and internet. Audio is
only available over the phone: dial toll-free from US or CAN:
1-877-708-1667. Enter code 7028688#
For the webcast, go to www.mymeetings.com  Under "Participant Join", click
"Join an Event", then add conf no: 744925156. No passcode is needed for the
web. Be sure to install the correct plug‐in for WebEx before the seminar
starts - temporary plugin works fine.

Abstract: When making science matter for conservation, marine conservation
practitioners, and managers must be prepared to make the appropriate
decision based on the results of
the best available science used to inform it. For nearly a decade, many
stakeholders
encouraged the North Pacific Fishery Management Council to enact
protections for
deep-sea corals in several canyons in the Eastern Bering Sea slope. In
2014, at the
request of the Council, the National Marine Fisheries Service, Alaska
Fisheries Science
Center conducted a strip-transect survey along the Eastern Bering Sea slope
to validate
the results of a model predicting the occurrence of deep-sea coral habitat.
More than
250,000 photos were analyzed to estimate coral, sponge, and sea whip
abundance,
distribution, height, and vulnerability to anthropogenic damage. The
results of the survey
confirmed that coral habitat and occurrence was concentrated around
Pribilof Canyon
and the adjacent slope. The results also confirmed that the densities of
corals in the
Eastern Bering Sea were low, even where they occurred. After reviewing the
best
available scientific information, the Council concluded that there is no
scientific evidence
to suggest that deep-sea corals in the Eastern Bering Sea slope or canyons
are at risk
from commercial fisheries under the current management structure, and that
special
protections for deep-sea corals were not warranted.

About the Speakers:
*Steve MacLea*n started at the North Pacific Fisheries Management Council
 in 2011, after spending six years as the Polar Marine Program Director for
The Nature Conservancy in Alaska where he worked closely with Bering Sea
commercial fishing interests to reduce potential impacts to protected
species and habitat. Steve has also worked for a private ecological
consulting firm, State and University wildlife management departments, oil
and gas environmental department, and a donut shop. Steve received his BA
in Biology from Whitman College in Walla Walla WA, and a MS in Wildlife and
Fisheries Sciences from Texas A&M University. Steve has been swimming in
every ocean, including north of the Arctic Circle, and south of the
Antarctic Circle.

Originally from Oregon, *Chris Rooper *went to undergraduate school at
Oregon State University (think Harvard of the west coast), completed a M.S.
at the University of Alaska Fairbanks in Juneau AK, and a Ph.D. at the
University of Washington. He began work for the Alaska Fisheries Science
Center in the bottom trawl survey group in 2002. Most of my research to
date has focussed on rockfish ecology and assessment. Where we are actively
pursuing methods to assess rockfish using alternate sampling gears in areas
of untrawlable seafloor, such as combinations of acoustics and optics.
Since 2011 I have been working on coral and sponge research in Alaska.

Subscribe to the OneNOAA Science Seminar weekly email: Send an email to
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in the subject or body. See http://www.nodc.noaa.gov/seminars/
-- 

​
Tracy A. Gill   tracy.gill at noaa.gov   240-533-0349
Physical Scientist
​, ​
Biogeography Branch, Marine Spatial Ecology Division
National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science
​, ​
NOAA's National Ocean Service
1305 East-West Hwy, N/SCI-1, # 9208, Silver Spring, MD  20910-3278

*Check out NOAA's **NCCOS Website <http://coastalscience.noaa.gov/>*
*for more on our projects, products and news.*

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