The Council’s Ecosystem and Ocean Planning (EOP) Committee and Advisory Panel held a joint meeting via webinar on Thursday, February 24, 2022, from 1:00 p.m. to 2:30 p.m.
The purpose of this meeting was for the EOP Committee and AP to provide feedback and input on a research project the Council is collaborating on with a research team from Rutgers University. The project is developing forecast models to predict short-term (1-10 years) climate-induced distribution changes for four economically important Mid and South Atlantic managed species (summer flounder, spiny dogfish, Illex squid, and gray triggerfish). Short-term projections should provide for greater management utility and application since most management considerations and decisions operate at similar timescales. A forecast model has been completed for summer flounder and the research team will present on model development and initial/draft results and outputs. The EOP Committee and AP provided feedback on the model outputs and their potential utility and offered input on future project direction and next steps.