CNH: Collaborative Research: Direct and Indirect Coupling of Fisheries Through Economic, Regulatory, Environmental, and Ecological Linkages

渔业的生产力和复原力受到多种动态和相互关联的影响，这些影响源于鱼类种群与其所属的自然和人类系统的复杂耦合。除了极少数例外，渔业目前是独立管理的，忽视了它们之间重要的自然和人类联系。如果更好地了解这些联系，并将这种理解应用于管理，复杂渔业系统的生物生产力、可持续性和人类利益可能会大大增加。缅因湾的美国龙虾(Homarus Americanus)、大西洋鲱鱼(Clupea Harengus)和东北多种底层鱼类渔业对新英格兰地区具有重要的生态、经济、社会和文化意义。它们受制于一系列尚未得到系统研究的自然和人类联系。这一跨学科研究项目将审查这些渔业之间的关键自然和人类联系，并将它们纳入一个量化框架，利用数值模拟来探索如何提高对复杂性的理解如何提高可持续性和增加人类惠益的流动。这项研究的一个重要组成部分是将概念和结果转化为教育项目，向新一代学生传授缅因湾生态系统的人类和自然复杂性，并培养对海洋科学的持续兴趣。这项研究是按主题组织的。主题1侧重于耦合渔业系统的管理。将使用数字模型来整合在主题2、3和4中进行的研究，并探索如何利用关于相互关联的自然和人类过程的信息来改进对这些资源的管理。主题2将使用计量经济学估计和生物经济模型来调查这些渔业之间的人类联系，这些联系是由于劳动力和资本在渔业、监管干预和投入和产出市场之间的流动而产生的，例如用作龙虾捕捞投入的鲱鱼。主题3将综合和分析现有数据，以描述运输和早期生命阶段生存的可变性，以确定推动招募可变性的外生过程(特别是与气候有关的过程)。主题4将结合新的实地研究和对现有数据的分析，研究龙虾、鲱鱼和底层鱼之间自然和人类诱导的营养相互作用对这些物种种群动态的影响。主题5将侧重于将研究成果转化为互动海洋科学教育计划，该计划设在缅因湾研究所，服务于缅因州全州的五年级和六年级学生。该项目将通过改善对决定缅因湾龙虾、鲱鱼和底层鱼类渔业生产力和变异性的物理、生态和人类经济过程的动态相互关系的基本理解，为科学做出重要贡献。它还将帮助制定与世界各地渔业系统相关的概念、研究方法和模型。人们普遍同意有必要采取生态系统办法来管理渔业，但在这方面取得的具体进展很少。该项目将制定实施渔业管理生态系统办法所需的概念和方法。该项目汇集了来自广泛学科的一组研究人员，并将展示综合跨学科方法在研究自然-人类系统方面的好处。这项研究将为美国东北部重要渔业的管理开发新的理解和方法。新的信息和见解将通过研讨会、参与管理进程和出版出版物传达给渔业管理人员。这项研究将与正在进行的互动海洋教育活动相协调。该教育项目的一个更广泛的目标是，通过在关键年龄激发人们对科学的兴趣和兴奋，增加在科学领域追求教育和见多识广的职业的学生人数。该项目还将为研究生和本科生助理提供关于研究和管理自然-人类耦合系统的定量、多学科方法的培训。该项目由自然与人类系统相互作用的国家自然科学基金会竞赛所颁发的奖项支持。

The productivity and resilience of fisheries are subject to a multitude of dynamic and interrelated influences that arise from complex coupling of fish populations with the natural and human systems of which they are a part. With few exceptions, fisheries currently are managed independently, ignoring important natural and human linkages among them. The biological productivity, sustainability, and consequently human benefits of complex fishery systems may be substantially increased if these linkages are better understood and if this understanding is applied to management. The American lobster (Homarus americanus), Atlantic herring (Clupea harengus) and Northeast multispecies groundfish fisheries in the Gulf of Maine are of major ecological, economic, social, and cultural importance to the New England region. They are subject to an array of natural and human linkages that have not yet been systematically studied. This interdisciplinary research project will examine key natural and human linkages among these fisheries and integrate them into a quantitative framework, using numerical modeling to explore how improved understanding of complexity can improve sustainability and increase the flow of human benefits. An important component of the research is the translation of concepts and results into an educational program that will teach a new generation of students about the human and natural complexity of the Gulf of Maine ecosystem and create a sustained interest in marine science. The research is organized by themes. Theme 1 focuses on management of the coupled fishery system. Numerical models will be used to integrate research undertaken in themes 2,3, and 4 and to explore how information regarding interrelated natural and human processes can be used to improve management of these resources. Theme 2 will use econometric estimation and bioeconomic modeling to investigate the human connections between these fisheries that arise through movement of labor and capital between fisheries, regulatory interventions and markets for inputs and outputs, such as herring used as an input to lobster harvest. Theme 3 will synthesize and analyze existing data to characterize variability in transport and survival of early life stages to identify exogenous processes (especially climate-related processes) that drive variability in recruitment. Theme 4 will combine new field studies with analysis of existing data to examine the impact of natural and human-induced trophic interactions among lobster, herring, and groundfish on the population dynamics of these species. Theme 5 will focus on translating research findings into an interactive marine science education program, based at the Gulf of Maine Research Institute, which serves fifth and sixth graders throughout the state of Maine.The project will make important contributions to science by improving basic understanding of the dynamic interrelationships of physical, ecological, and human-economic processes that determine the productivity and variability of the Gulf of Maine lobster, herring, and groundfish fisheries. It also will help develop concepts, research methodologies, and models relevant to fishery systems around the world. There is general agreement on the need to take an ecosystem approach to managing fisheries, but little concrete progress has been made in doing so. This project will develop concepts and methodologies needed to implement an ecosystem approach to fishery management. The project brings together a team of researchers from a broad range of disciplines and will demonstrate the benefits of an integrated interdisciplinary approach to investigating natural-human systems. The research will develop new understanding and approaches for management of important Northeast U.S. fisheries. The new information and insights will be conveyed to fishery managers through seminars, participation in the management process, and publications. The research will be coordinated with an ongoing, interactive marine education activity. A broader goal of that education program is to increase the number of students pursuing education and informed careers in the sciences by generating interest and excitement about science at a critical age. The project also will provide training for graduate students and undergraduate assistants in quantitative, multidisciplinary approaches to the study and management of coupled natural-human systems. This project is supported by an award resulting from the NSF competition focusing on the Dynamics of Coupled Natural and Human Systems.