ANNAPOLIS — The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and its partners recently celebrated progress toward restoring oyster reef habitats in 10…
“The number of fish and mobile invertebrates that are born and survive each year along the Gulf of Mexico depends a lot on habitat – but we have never had a way to estimate just how many are produced by a certain habitat,” said Bryan DeAngelis, Marine Habitat Scientist for The Nature Conservancy. “This research, and the tools we’ve built to accompany it, allows us to determine which fish, shrimp and crabs, and how many, a habitat is producing each year and what we would lose if that habitat disappeared.” DeAngelis, along with lead researchers Dr. Philine zu Ermgassen of the University of Edinburgh and Dr. Jon Grabowski from Northeastern University and other partners including the U.S. Geological Survey, and NOAA Fisheries used data from previous studies from scientists across the Gulf of Mexico. Combined, this research synthesized thousands of individual samples, providing an understanding of which fish, shrimp and crabs are enhanced by the habitats i