Initial Efforts to Integrate Fish Trophodynamics into Long-Term Groundfish Surveys in the Eastern Gulf of Mexico

The 2006 reauthorization of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act emphasized the need for managers to consider ecological factors when assessing and managing fisheries resources.  Although the use of ecosystem-level models to inform management decisions is still in its infancy, it is clear that such approaches require substantially more data than do traditional stock assessments.  In addition to the traditional measures of catch, effort, population status, and life history parameters, ecosystem management requires data on habitat and most importantly, trophodynamics.  While several regions have a long history of collecting valuable trophodynamics data, the analysis of diet data has only recently become a priority in the Gulf of Mexico.  We present an overview of efforts conducted to date to incorporate trophodynamics into ongoing Southeast Area Monitoring and Assessment Program (SEAMAP) groundfish surveys in the eastern Gulf of Mexico.  Significant challenges faced in establishing this diet monitoring program will also be discussed, including approaches used to parameterize ecosystem models while also providing data to address emerging needs and support robust ecological studies of the highly-diverse ichthyofaunal assemblage characteristic of the region.