September Update from the Apalachicola Bay System Initiative

Pathway to Recovery Ph.D. student Donaven Baughman measuring size of oyster drills in Apalachicola Bay. See ABSI Science Highlight below for more details. The Apalachicola Bay System Initiative Newsletter - September 2022 The ABSI mission: to gain insight into the root causes of decline of the Apalachicola Bay ecosystem with a focus on oyster reefs, and ultimately, with guidance from the Community Advisory Board and input from stakeholders and the public, to develop science-informed restoration and ecosystem-based management plans focused on the recovery of oyster reefs and the health of Apalachicola Bay. News from the Community Advisory Board The Community Advisory Board (CAB) last met on July 27th, 2022 at the Apalachicola National Estuarine Research Reserve facility. The meeting began with reports from the CAB working groups and subcommittees followed by a science update from ABSI Principal Investigator, Dr. Sandra Brooke. This science update includes preliminary tonging and subtidal oyster monitoring data. Next, CAB member and Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) representative Devin Resko provided an overview of Phase II of FWC's Apalachicola Bay Oyster Restoration project. Devin responded to questions about the Bay closure and potential management strategies. If you have any questions or comments, please email Devin at devin.resko@myfwc.com. Then, Dr. Ed Camp, (University of Florida Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences), gave a presentation on fishery dependent and independent data. Ed is an interdisciplinary scientist who focuses on the ecology and human dimension aspects of managing fisheries & aquaculture. He gave an overview of what oyster modeling is, and its importance, as well as a recap of his previous presentations of model estimations and simulations. He also introduced a "Catch at Size" model as developed by his colleague, Nick Fisch. Finally, Dr. Bill Pine (University of Florida) provided an analysis of results from Florida Department of the Environment (DEP) and FWC led oyster restoration projects. To ensure complete transparency, the entire history of the deliberations from each of the 20 meetings (17 CAB meetings and 3 Oystermen's Workshops) since March 2020, including copies of all presentations and meeting recordings, are available on the ABSI Community Advisory Board website. Note: Due to COVID-19, meetings of the CAB took place virtually using ZOOM from May 2020 to January 2022. The CAB resumed in-person meetings in March 2022. The CAB Meeting and Oystermen's Workshop have been postponed from their original dates to exercise caution ahead of Hurricane Ian. The new dates and times are below. Thank you! Next CAB Meeting: October 18th, 8:30am-3:00pm -- ANERR Multi-Purpose Room This meeting will be held in-person at the Apalachicola National Estuarine Research Reserve (ANERR) facility if public health conditions allow (or held via Zoom if needed). Members of the public are encouraged to attend and listen in. A public Zoom option will be available. There is room for for public comment at the end of each meeting. Meeting Agenda Upcoming Events: Oystermen's Workshop: October 18th, 6:00 - 8:00 pm -- ANERR Multi-Purpose Room This meeting is for oystermen to come and provide feedback on ABSI restoration experiments and FWC's current restoration projects. Meeting Agenda Community Workshop: October 19th, 6:00 - 8:00 pm -- Eastpoint Volunteer Fire Dept. Members of the public are encouraged to attend to learn more about ABSI and most importantly, provide feedback and insight on oyster restoration efforts in the Bay. Meeting Agenda ABSI and FWC FAQs The ABSI team has developed a list of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) in collaboration with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC). This is a working document, meaning that as more data and information become available, we will update the page accordingly. For questions or comments, please reach out to fsucml-absi@fsu.edu. Thank you! If you have questions about the FISHERY CLOSURE - check out these Q&As from FWC If you have questions about the SCIENCE and RESTORATION EXPERIMENTS in the Bay - check out these Q&As from ABSI Here are a few commonly asked questions about the fishery closure (answers provided by FWC): Q: Is FWC going to extend the Bay closure past 2025?       A: It is premature to make these decisions at this time. Closures, including extending closures, are a last resort for FWC. These decisions need to be data and science driven. So, if the data do not support opening the Bay, either partially or entirely, that information will be provided to the FWC Commissioners. Q: What management strategies are FWC considering when the Bay reopens?        A: Broadly, an adaptive management strategy will be followed. This plan will allow FWC to manage the fishery in a manner that provides resiliency to changes in environmental conditions and fishery pressure, and provides benefits to both the oyster population and the local fishery. Multiple specific fishery management options are being considered. These discussions will continue while restoration activities are implemented. FWC will use utilize modeling data that aims to predict how the fishery will respond to different management options. FWC will also leverage input from subject matter experts on different management strategies, including local stakeholders. No management strategy will be brought to the FWC Commissioners for vote before extensive public outreach and communication. Here are a few commonly asked questions about the science in the Bay (answers provided by ABSI): Q: What is the condition of the oyster beds (disease, shell loss, etc.)?             A: The oyster beds in Apalachicola Bay are severely depleted, and much of the historical oyster reefs are shell hash. There is some disease, and in the saltier areas, oyster predator populations are high, but the biggest problem is lack of good habitat. We really need to restore the reefs then give the oysters time to grow. If not, it will collapse again. Q: Haven’t we studied the Bay enough?              A: The first comprehensive ecological studies of the  Bay date back to the 1970s when the system was in much better condition. Since then, there has been a lot of research, but we don’t understand completely: Why the oyster populations collapsed so quickly Why they haven’t recovered despite millions of dollars of investment Whether their decline is a symptom of a larger problem in the Bay or an isolated problem What extent the oyster population collapse is impacting the larger ecosystem Restoration efforts so far have not resulted in population recovery, and we need to understand why. Were past restoration projects designed to optimize success or would something different work better? Are there so few oysters that there aren’t enough spat in the Bay? We do know a lot, but there are still plenty of unanswered questions. ABSI’s research is a large-scale, multi-disciplinary long-term study that is specifically focused on trying to address these knowledge gaps, with the help of stakeholders that understand the history of the Bay. ABSI Science Highlight FSUCML Ph.D. student, Donaven Baughman, has been working with the ABSI team in SCUBA 25x25m plot surveys to quantify abundance of oyster drills (Stramonita haemastoma) at three sites in Apalachicola Bay. Oyster drills are snails that are oyster predators and prefer higher salinity water. The team is surveying to see if there are different abundances of oyster drills in various areas of the Bay that may experience different salinity regimes. They also are measuring the oyster drills to determine if there are different salinity tolerances depending on size and age of the drills. Photo credit: Shannon Murphy Join the ABSI Newsletter Mailing List We are always interested in hearing from you so if you have questions or comments, please send them to our email address, fsucml-absi@fsu.edu.  ‌  ‌  ‌

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