Data Science as Empowering Fisheries Knowledge and Sustainability

Data science is empowering people across many disciplines, and even pushing a new paradigm on how to produce and apply knowledge for achieving sustainability. Fishery science is not an exception, therefore, this innovative session is a unique platform to share experiences on how data analytics, statistics, machine learning, deep learning, artificial intelligence, programming, and other related fields, are empowering decision making towards the sustainability of fishery resources around the world. Participants are encouraged to share innovative methods, new algorithms, or creative applications of data science, that answer old and new questions in fishery science, and inspire others into new creative solutions.

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Connecting Sustainable Fishing/Aquaculture with Sustainable Consumption

Sustainable small-scale fisheries and aquaculture continue to grow in popularity as environmentally conscious consumers seek to minimize their impact and financially support and grow local economies. There is substantial opportunity for small-scale fisheries and aquaculture producers to provide sustainably caught and cultured products to environmentally supportive tourism businesses such as eco-lodges, live-aboard vessel tours, and restaurants, while at the same time continuing to provide these products to local residents. There is also opportunity to develop sustainable recreational fisheries, particularly those based on catch and release principles, that would promote sustainability and employment opportunities. We propose to organize a panel discussion featuring a balanced mix of local entrepreneurs and fisheries and social scientists to discuss potential barriers and benefits of meeting the demand for sustainable, locally produced fish and shellfish (wild capture or aquaculture) and socially responsible recreational fishing opportunities.

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Comparing Range-Wide Observations from Snook/Robalo (Centropomus spp.): Fostering Collaboration Through Information Sharing

Snook/robalo (Centropomus spp.) are widely distributed fishes found in tropical/subtropical waters of the western Atlantic and eastern Pacific Oceans. Due to the socioeconomic and ecological importance of snook, research has rapidly expanded with >50 scientific papers published since the year 2000. These efforts have provided a wealth of knowledge regarding the life-history, age and growth, reproductive physiology, trophic interactions, genetics, behaviors, and aquaculture practices for multiple species. However, the broad distribution of snook, which spans political borders and multiple languages, has hindered collaborations among different regions. To facilitate information sharing and encourage collaborative research efforts, the goal of this symposium is to bring together a diverse group of researchers studying snook throughout their range. By sharing lessons learned and synthesizing findings from different systems/regions, we can help inform future research and provide information that supports the conservation and management of these socially, economically, and ecologically important fisheries.

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Collections and Their Importance in the Global Defaunation Process

Biological collections correspond to an invaluable inventory of biological biodiversity since they compile the natural heritage of a country or region and its temporal variation. Considering the growing global threats derived from human activity especially exacerbated during the current Anthropocene period, biological collections represent an excellent tool for studying their effects and consequences on biodiversity conservation. The current process of defaunation has affected both aquatic and terrestrial environments, however, in recent years we have been able to show that this decline in aquatic environments has been more severe. This is evident in the greater number of threatened species, or that are in some category of risk. Coordination between academia, society, and government is necessary, which allows developing actions to reduce the loss of diversity in freshwater environments where collections can play a central role in this coordination.

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Characterizing Gulf and Caribbean Marine Recreational Fisheries: Current Management and Future Challenges

Recreational fisheries play a pivotal role as economic drivers throughout the world, but can be especially beneficial to developing nations.  This benefit, however, can be overshadowed by a lack of foresight and planning if management strategies are not established early in the process. In addition to economic impacts, recreational fisheries also provide strong social and cultural connections for coastal and island communities.  Like most natural systems, the ecosystems that support recreational fisheries are experiencing increasing pressure from human activity and overuse, climate change, ocean acidification, etc. which threaten their long-term sustainable use.  This full-day symposium invites contributions focused on the importance of recreational fisheries and can include topics such as bioeconomics, intersectoral conflicts and threats, and/or management challenges.  Contributions to share experiences, knowledge, and future concerns are strongly encouraged from practitioners and organizations involved in recreational fisheries activities–including fishing guides, boat/tour operators, fishing clubs, non-governmental organizations, and similar.

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Challenges and Successes in Fisheries Improvement Projects

Fishery improvement projects (FIP) are a structured multi-stakeholder effort to improve fisheries´ practices to a level of performance compatible with some pre-determined standard, often to access new markets and to benefit fishers. Latin America and the Caribbean are one of the world´s most active regions (in terms of the number of FIPs and their diversity) in this space. However, fisheries in the region often meet unique challenges when it comes to improving fisheries that fisheries elsewhere do not face. These challenges range from lack of funding to lack of collaboration to difficulty implementing best practices. This session will gather FIP implementers and interested stakeholders to share challenges and successes in fisheries improvement efforts.

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Billfish Management and Conservation: Implications for Fishing, Tourism, and Coastal Communities

Billfishes are highly migratory apex predators with important roles in marine ecosystems of the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian oceans. They also support important commercial and recreational fisheries in many countries and, thus, changes in their patterns of abundance and distribution have important ecological, social and economic implications. This session welcomes studies related to billfish behavior, patterns of distribution, variability, trends, and the impacts of environmental and anthropogenic factors on their population dynamics. In addition, studies examining the impact of commercial and recreational billfish fisheries on fishing tourism and the development of coastal communities are encouraged.

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Batoids of Latin America and the Caribbean

Rays are understudied and undervalued in Latin America and the Caribbean. The region hosts some of the most iconic and endangered batoid species in the world, including mobulas, sawfishes, eagle rays, and endemic freshwater rays, but lacks a cohesive approach to the research, conservation and management of the taxa. The symposium will highlight this diverse group of fishes from researchers throughout the region.

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Aquatic Habitat Ecology & Conservation: Continental and Marine Ecosystems Connectivity

The first Aquatic Habitat Conservation in South America Symposium occurred during the XXI Brazilian Society of Ichthyology Meeting in 2015. The proceedings were published in the Journal of Fish Biology (vol. 89, Number 1, June 2016). In this special issue, the authors provided an analytical overview of problems conserving South America’s fish and aquatic habitats. Based on this finding, we would like to extend this topic to other American countries, with different climates, fauna, and flora. Our goal is to provide a comprehensive and multidisciplinary overview of variables influencing flora and fauna distributions and shaping their ecological interactions within aquatic ecosystems. All topics related to aquatic habitat (marine and freshwater) ecology and conservation are therefore welcome.

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Advances in Movement and Population Connectivity of Highly Migratory Fishes in the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean

Characterizing the movement and population connectivity of highly migratory fish species can be challenging but is particularly critical for species that require multilateral stock assessment and cooperative management efforts. Several techniques exist to quantify movement rates including capture data, conventional tagging, acoustic and satellite tags, genetic molecular approaches, and natural chemical tags such as elements and isotopes in calcified structures and soft tissues of fish. Each technique varies on the spatial and temporal scale of resolution, from very fine (electronic tags) to broad (genetic and chemical). This session will focus on studies using diverse methodologies to gain better understanding of migration patterns, habitat use, and population connectivity of highly migratory fishes.

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