Phase II IUCRC at University of Southern Mississippi Center for Science Center for Marine Fisheries (SCeMFiS)

海洋渔业科学中心 (SCeMFiS) 利用学术和商业鱼类和贝类渔业资源来解决限制可持续渔业的科学问题。 SCeMFiS 既反映了在管理科学严谨性日益增强的时代，行业支持的研究不断扩展，也反映了学术界、行业和监管机构在复杂管理决策中协同合作的重要性。第二阶段的研究重点将集中在：（1）预防性管理，将配额维持在可持续水平以下，从而限制经济价值和就业；（2）气候变化对可持续管理和长期规划的影响；（3）解决渔业和能源生产之间的多种用途冲突（空间和跨十年时间框架）；（4）生态系统管理，重点关注饲料鱼和生态系统营养结构。 SCeMFiS 将开发鱼类种群的基本生物数据；改进抽样设计、种群动态和渔业绩效的模型；评估种群结构的趋势及其与遗传学、生理学和性二态性的关系；并通过渔具创新和船队部署的修改改进捕捞方法，以减少丢弃物。 SCeMFiS 提供了一系列海洋学和海洋生物学科的能力融合，这对于应对渔业管理面临的挑战至关重要。渔业管理数十年的演变已经正式制定了可持续性标准，并开发了实现这一目标的数值模型；但由于有关鱼类和贝类种群的信息不足，以及应对快速气候变化带来的挑战的数值应用开发不足，成功受到限制，气候变化继续暴露出当前数据资源和评估的局限性，加剧了数据可用性和数据资源需求之间的差距。 SCeMFiS 的能力涵盖海洋学、渔业和海洋生物学科，对于解决现代渔业面临的数据资源和分析挑战至关重要。 SCeMFiS 促进大陆架群落动态、生态和环境方面的基础和应用研究。例子包括获得美国海洋圆蛤种群（现存最古老的非殖民动物）的第一个年龄频率分布、在楠塔基特岛以东进行的第一次底栖调查以确定气候变化引起的北蛤的范围变化、用于评估调查抽样设计充分性的软件包以及有关饵料鱼（如鲱鱼）的基本生物学数据。这些例子显示了针对渔业管理基本问题的应用研究与旨在了解大陆架的上层、底层和底栖领域的基础研究之间的联系。该奖项反映了 NSF 的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The Science Center for Marine Fisheries (SCeMFiS) uses academic and commercial finfish and shellfish fisheries resources to address scientific problems limiting sustainable fisheries. SCeMFiS reflects both a continuing expansion of industry-supported research in an era of increased science rigor in management, and the importance of synergistic collaboration between academics, industry, and regulatory agencies in complex management decisions. Phase II will focus research efforts on: (1) precautionary management that maintains quotas below sustainable levels, thereby limiting economic value and jobs, (2) the influence of climate change on sustainable management and long-range planning, (3) resolution of multiple use conflicts (both spatial and over multi-decadal time frames) between fisheries and energy production, and (4) ecosystem management with a focus on forage fish and ecosystem trophic structure. SCeMFiS will develop essential biological data on fish stocks; improve models of sampling design, population dynamics, and fishery performance; evaluate trends in stock structure and their relation to genetics, physiology and sexual dimorphism; and improve approaches to fishing to reduce discards through gear innovation and modifications in fleet deployment. SCeMFiS offers the convergence of capabilities from a range of oceanographic and marine biological disciplines that is essential to meet the challenges faced by fisheries management. A multi-decadal evolution in fisheries management has formalized the criteria for sustainability and developed numerical models to achieve this goal; but success is limited by insufficient information on fish and shellfish stocks and insufficient development of numerical applications to meet challenges posed by rapid climate change that continues to expose the limitations of present-day data resources and assessment, exacerbating the gap between data availability and data resource needs. SCeMFiS' capabilities encompass the range of oceanographic, fisheries, and marine biological disciplines essential for addressing the data resource and analytical challenges faced by modern-day fisheries. SCeMFiS fosters basic and applied research in the community dynamics, ecology, and environment of the continental shelf. Examples include obtaining the first age-frequency distributions for the US ocean quahog stock, the oldest living non-colonial animals, the first benthic survey east of Nantucket to identify a range shift in surfclams produced by climate change, a software package for evaluation of the adequacy of survey sampling design, and basic biological data on forage fish such as menhaden. These examples show the nexus between applied research directed at basic questions of fishery management and basic research directed at understanding the pelagic, demersal, and benthic realms of the continental shelf.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.