NOAA’s Northeast Integrated Ecosystem Assessment team released their annual Mid-Atlantic and New England State of the Ecosystem Reports. These reports synthesize the ecological, oceanographic, and socioeconomic aspects of the Georges Bank, Gulf of Maine, and Mid-Atlantic Bight ecosystems as they relate to fishery management objectives. Two notable events highlighted in the reports were the Gulf of Maine phytoplankton bloom in summer 2023 and a large dieoff of sea scallops in the Elephant Trunk area of the Mid-Atlantic region.
This year’s reports feature a new format for the “Risks to Meeting Fishery Objectives” section and a “2023 Highlights” graphic that depicts notable ecosystem events up and down the Northeast coast from the previous year. This graphic is both visually engaging, and easily and quickly communicates events that may affect the meeting of fisheries objectives within the ecosystems. These events are highlighted in the graphical summary and explained in more detail at the end of the reports. The changes made to this year's reports aid in achieving the program's goals of effectively delivering ecosystem science to decision makers through collaboration and co-production of products.
Results from the Mid-Atlantic report were presented to the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council in mid-April. The New England report will be presented to the New England Fishery Management Council in June. A summary of both State of the Ecosystem reports will be featured through a OneNOAA seminar on Thursday, May 30 at 1pm ET.
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Read a summary of the reports from NOAA Fisheries.
Read the 2024 Mid-Atlantic State of the Ecosystem report.
Read the 2024 New England State of the Ecosystem report.