1. Felicia Coleman Florida State University Coastal & Marine Laboratory
Linking Coastal Watersheds to Fish & Fisheries
Felicia Coleman
Florida State University Coastal & Marine Laboratory
Photo by Richard Bickel

2. Linking Coastal Watersheds to Fisheries
Gulf of Mexico Zonation
38 % Coastal
22 % Shelf (< 200m)
20 % Slope*( m)
20% Deep Sea (>3000 m)
Linking Coastal Watersheds to Fisheries
Productivity
EGoM > WGoM
*most complex on earth
From: Gulfbase,

3. Linking Coastal Watersheds to Fisheries
Circulation - The Loop Current
Linking Coastal Watersheds to Fisheries
The Gulf of Mexico is a semi-enclosed oceanic basin that fits nicely between latitudes degrees North and longitudes degrees West. The Gulf has one major current system, the Loop Current, which connects it to the Caribbean waters south of it. The Loop Current flows roughly northward from the Caribbean Sea between the Yucatan Peninsula and the western end of Cuba, and somewhere in the middle of the eastern Gulf it “loops” to the east, and then flows southward parallel to the west coast of Florida. After it passes the Dry Tortugas, the Loop Current turns sharply to the east, becoming the southern end of the mighty Gulf Stream as it passes through the Florida Straits.
Like the Gulf Stream, the Loop Current can occasionally form pinch-off eddies that can move around the western Gulf for months after they are formed, further circulating the warm Caribbean waters throughout the Gulf. Spinning clockwise at 2 or 3 mi an hour, some eddies are more than 100 mi in diameter. They carry their warm water westward over several months, strongly affecting currents in the western Gulf, but eventually lose steam and break apart when they hit the continental shelf off Texas or Mexico. Three or four such eddies may exist in the Gulf at any one time. In areas of the western Gulf without eddies, circulation is influenced mostly by wind and rivers. These currents are not nearly as strong as within or near the eddies, but they do affect life in the Gulf.
Though the names may change along the way, the Yucatan Current, the Loop Current, the Florida Current, the Gulf Stream, and all of the countercurrents and eddies they spawn carry with them the larvae and spores of tropical species from Belize, Mexico and other Caribbean locales. Ocean currents cast plant spores, animal larvae, and even adult creatures over huge expanses, sometimes between distant, isolated islands. Currents are the ocean’s version of the breezes that disperse the seeds of dandelions and maples, and the spores of mushrooms. They are the “liquid wind” that supplies and replenishes habitats of every kind in the ocean realm.
Because of the current system that begins along the Yucatan Peninsula, hard-substrate (also called hard-bottom) features lucky enough to be downstream from the Caribbean have become prime real estate for thousands of species of corals, sponges, fish and other tropical species--regional outposts displaying an unexpected tropical flair. One of the major suppliers in the Caribbean, the Meso-American Barrier Reef System lies off the coasts of Belize and Mexico. It may represent what scientists call a center of diversity for the region, which means that it contains nearly all of the reef species present in the region.
From: The Sustainable Seas

4. Linking Coastal Watersheds to Fisheries
Nutrient Input - freshwater discharge
Linking Coastal Watersheds to Fisheries
Links terrestrial & marine ecosystems
Groundwater , springs

5. Linking Coastal Watersheds to Fisheries
Nutrient Input - freshwater discharge
Chlorophyll plumes from
Mississippi River
Apalachicola River
Linking Coastal Watersheds to Fisheries
Felicia Coleman

6. Linking Coastal Watersheds to Fisheries
Nutrient Input
Linking Coastal Watersheds to Fisheries
The Dead Zone
The Green River Phenomenon
same season, same time as
peak spawning for:
Gag
Red Grouper
Mississippi - BAD
Apalachicola - GOOD

7. Linking Coastal Watersheds to Fisheries
Habitat Linkages
Linking Coastal Watersheds to Fisheries
Trophic interactions are feeding relationships. All feeding relationships show a one-way flow of energy. 
From: Heck et al. 2008

8. Linking Coastal Watersheds to Fisheries
Habitat Linkages – life cycle
Juveniles inshore
Migrate offshore
Spawn offshore
Planktonic Larvae
Linking Coastal Watersheds to Fisheries
From: Heppell et al. 2006

9. Linking Coastal Watersheds to Fisheries
Habitat Linkages – fisheries
Linking Coastal Watersheds to Fisheries
Fishing Sites

10. Linking Coastal Watersheds to Fisheries
This specific biological event is called the Green River Phenomenon, and it occurs along the WFS during late winter - early spring ”
Slide 56 This PHENOMENON constitutes a large, localized phytoplankton bloom that supplies fixed organic carbon to fuel the food webs in the region, & extend hundreds of miles from Florida’s panhandle south along the shelf edge, & persists for weeks to months, possibly due to either wind-driven coastal or shelf-edge upwelling events. More particularly, it coincides seasonlly with peak spawning for many of these reef fish & thus may be a key component in determining recruitment success to major fisheries along the west Florida shelf.
We don’t know anything about the relative importance of this event & the mechanism of delivery of nutrients to the WFS . But it will likely be impacted by the radical alterations in the flow of the Apalachicola River that will result from water use changes of Georgia’s agricultural use. .Such changes will have significant effects beyond the confines of the Apalachicola River System, potentially including ocean food webs far offshore.
Felicia Coleman

11. Linking Coastal Watersheds to Fisheries
Figure 1. Satellite image of the phytoplankton plume known as the Green River Phenomenon extending from the Apalachicola River watershed. Note that plume occurs between the 30 and 100 m isobaths and crosses over significant reef fish spawning habitat. White lines = isobaths; red boxes = spawning sites.This specific biological event is called the Green River Phenomenon, and it occurs along the WFS during late winter - early spring ”  
Slide 57
Felicia Coleman

12. Linking Coastal Watersheds to Fisheries
Chlorophyll based on March SeaWiFS ocean color satellite data
(from Dr. Steve Morey et al., FSU COAPS)
Felicia Coleman

13. Linking Coastal Watersheds to Fisheries
Summary
The benefits of river flow extend far beyond the boundaries of the bay
That river flow delivers nutrients offshore that support a highly productive fisheries
Those fisheries deliver billions of dollars to coastal communities and those industries that depend upon them
Linking Coastal Watersheds to Fisheries