![Image - Medium - Left with Caption Image Dimensions - Width: 320 px, Height: 213 px* * Recommended Height. Joshua Kilborn, research assistant professor at USF CMS](/marine-science/news/images/josh-kilborn-usf-college-of-marine-science.jpg)
Joshua Kilborn, research assistant professor at USF CMS.
鈥淭his study attempts to operationalize the NOAA Southeast Fisheries Science Center鈥檚 2017 Ecosystem Status Report to help inform an ecosystem-based fishery management approach in the Gulf of Mexico large marine ecosystem (Gulf LME). I used 30+ unique ecosystem-level indicators from the report to model the fishery ecosystem trends and trajectory over time and better understand the factors that influenced their evolution. While these results did capture the fishery ecosystem鈥檚 vulnerabilities to shifting environmental and socioeconomic conditions, they also underscored the aquatic resources鈥 resilience to the rapidly changing pressures observed throughout the study period. This resilience is likely rooted in the complexity and diversity of the Gulf LME but it is also closely linked to informed management and decision making successes.鈥