SOFIA - SFRSF - Coastal Ecosystems - What Inflow Criteria Is Needed? What Can Fishery Sp. Tell Us?

Last updated: October 11, 2002

The Florida Bay Interagency Science Program:
What is the correct quantity, timing, quality and spatial distribution of freshwater inflow from the Greater Everglades needed to restore and sustain the Florida Bay ecosystem?

Poster presented May 1999, at the South Florida Restoration Science Forum

By: Program Management Committee
(Florida Bay and Adjacent Marine Systems)

Part 1: What can fishery species tell us about Florida Bay's freshwater inflow needs?

Pink shrimp are economically and ecologically important as game fish prey and food and income for people.
Florida Bay is a major nursery ground for Pink Shrimp that spawn and are caught near the Dry Tortugas.
Tortugas landings declined in the mid-1980s and rebounded in the mid-1990s.
Tortugas landings are correlated with indices of freshwater flow to the coast from the Everglades.
Pink shrimp catch and value

(Click on graph above for full-sized version.)
Unpublished data from Guy Davenport,
National Marine Fisheries Service, Miami.

The estimated effects of temperature and salinity on growth and survival are being used by NOAA Fisheries scientists in a computer model to determine how freshwater inflow and its management might influence landings.

Lab results from Zein-Eldin, NOAA NationalMarine Fisheries Service Galveston (unpublished data), suggest that high salinities suppress pink shrimp survival, particularly at high temperatures.
High salinities and high temperatures often occur in Florida Bay.
Freshwater inflow moderates salinities on nursery grounds.

Western
Florida Bay Salinity
Days within indicated salinity range
(ppt)

Temperature
Days within indicated temperature range
(^oC)

North-central
Florida Bay Days within indicated salinity range
(ppt)

Days within indicated temperature range
(^oC)

From unpublished data (1989-1997) provided by DeWitt Smith, Everglades National Park.
(Click on graphs above for larger versions.)

Modeling results suggest that the year-to-year variations in temperature and salinity found in Florida Bay could generate large differences in annual recruitment to the fishery.

Other fishery species influenced by salinity also are being developed as performance measures to evaluate water management alternatives.

(Click on graphs above for full-sized version.)

Average Everglades National Park rainfall, average Taylor Slough (Well P-37) water level, average Northern Florida Bay salinity, and guide and non-guide catch rates in the Florida Bay area from T.W. Schmidt, M.A. Alvarado, and J. Kalarski (1998) Annual fisheries report, Everglades National Park.

(Click on images above for full-sized version.)

Modeling conclusions support the hypothesis that water management actions affect Tortugas Pink Shrimp landings by affecting salinities in Florida Bay.
J.A. Browder, V.R. Restrepo, J.K. Rice, M. Robblee, and Z. Zein-Eldin. Environmental influences on recruitment of pink shrimp, Farfantepenaeus duorarum, from Florida Bay nursery grounds. June, 1999 issue of Estuaries

Related Links

Florida Bay and Adjacent Marine Systems website

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Last updated: 11 October, 2002 @ 09:42 PM (KP)

The Florida Bay Interagency Science Program: What is the correct quantity, timing, quality and spatial distribution of freshwater inflow from the Greater Everglades needed to restore and sustain the Florida Bay ecosystem?

Part 1: What can fishery species tell us about Florida Bay's freshwater inflow needs?

The Florida Bay Interagency Science Program:
What is the correct quantity, timing, quality and spatial distribution of freshwater inflow from the Greater Everglades needed to restore and sustain the Florida Bay ecosystem?