Group to monitor GoM sturgeon

The Open Ocean Trustee Implementation Group will implement two monitoring and adaptive management activities to fill critical information gaps to support Gulf sturgeon restoration. The activities are described in two recently-approved implementation plan documents and are aligned with goals we identified in the Monitoring and Adaptive Management Strategy, released in May. Gulf sturgeons inhabit coastal waters, rivers and estuaries in the northern Gulf of Mexico from the Pearl River in Louisiana to the Suwannee River in Florida. After spending the first three years in rivers as juveniles, they spend fall and winter in the GoM, and in the spring and summer return to the rivers where they spawned. Up to 3,600 were potentially exposed to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the near-shore areas. In addressing the impacts, a Gulf sturgeon project was selected in the Open Ocean Restoration Plan 1. The results of the Restoration Plan 1 and both monitoring and adaptive management activities will help identify and prioritize habitats regionally most in need of restoration and develop a framework for monitoring the results. The two monitoring and adaptive management activities are crucial to developing a science-driven, adaptive management framework for Gulf sturgeon restoration. Their successful completion will better inform the ability to plan strategic habitat restoration. (Source: Gulf Spill Restoration 07/01/19)