Coleman & Koenig in the News

The Deep-C Fisheries Ecology Team (Dr. Dean Grubbs, Dr. Chris Koenig, and Dr. Felicia Coleman) are offshore conducting research from the shelf-edge to the deep sea onboard the Florida Institute of Oceanography's research vessel, the RV WEATHERBIRD II. In between the all day and all night longline and trap sets, the cataloging of specimens, and everything else that goes along with a vigorous field program, they are taking turns writing a blog that appears on the Deep-C website and will continue on their trip from 8-17 October 2012. Check back often to find out what's going on.

The Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative (GOMRI), which is responsible for organizing the BP-funded research consortia studying the effects of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, highlights the at-sea research of the Deep-C Consortium. FSUCML researchers Dr. Dean Grubbs, Dr. Chris Koenig, and Dr. Felicia Coleman, make up part of the ecology team and are working closely with the geochemists to determine paths of oil-related contaminants through the food web, particularly as it impacts economically important fish species.

In late August, a massive fish kill at a Florida Power & Light Co. (FPL) nuclear power plant included 50 to 75 protected goliath grouper. But, the fact that goliath grouper were killed went unreported for months. FSUCML faculty, Dr. Chris Koenig comments on how the lack of communication from FPL has affected goliath research. FPL's actions have also prompted Florida wildlife officials to create a protocol for gathering information about fish kills at power plants.

FSUCML faculty Christopher Koenig and Felicia Coleman's research, which synthesized data from over 30,000 surveys to map goliath density across space and time, shows that the recovery of the species is concentrated off the southwest coast of Florida. This research as well as Koenig and Coleman's new investigation will provide more insight into the impact and successes of the 1990 goliath grouper fishing ban.

As the critically-endangered goliath grouper become more visible in Southwest Florida waters, fishermen are increasingly asking for the right to fish them again. Regulators, however, say science has not shown that the species can handle the fishing pressure. Data on the fish is weak; both their current and historical populations in the region are unknown. The extent of the population increase as well as the viability of a limited goliath fishery is currently under investigation by FSUCML faculty, Christopher Koenig and Felicia Coleman, in a new three year study.

FSUCML faculty, Dr. Christopher Koenig and Dr. Felicia Coleman, are collecting new data on the once severely-overfished Atlantic goliath grouper in a new three-year study. The species is native to Florida's waters, and is currently making a comeback in the southeastern United States, after a 21-year fishing moratorium. Using nondestructive sampling techniques, Koenig and Coleman will examine specific conditions and behaviors supporting this species' population recovery along Florida's coastlines in both the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico.

Dr. Felicia Coleman is a co-author on a new report released by the Pew Charitable Trust, A Once and Future Gulf of Mexico Ecosystem in which the expert working group makes recommendations for recovering Gulf resources and restoring the natural system. Recognizing that the Deepwater Horizon disaster of April 2010 was just the most visible, recent problem threatening the health of the Gulf of Mexico ecosystem, the authors recommend going beyond the traditional restoration approach that targets specific habitats or species damaged by the oil to focus on the Gulf of Mexico as a whole to have it truly recover and thrive in an unpredictable future.

The article is on Drs. Felicia Coleman and Christopher Koenig (FSUCML) and Dr. Christopher Stallings (a former FSUCML postdoc and current USF professor) research examining the effects of the Gulf oil disaster on shallow water coral- and sponge-dominated reefs.

The study, Impact of crude oil on coastal and ocean environments of the West Florida Shelf and Big Bend Region from the shoreline to the continental Shelf Edge, represents an integrated, rapid-response study of the impact of oil on coastal and ocean marine ecosystems of the northeastern Gulf of Mexico, including the northern West Florida Shelf from the Big Bend Region west to Louisiana, that can be completed in its entirety within 5 months.

Dr. Felicia Coleman, Director of the FSUCML, was recently appointed to the Marine Protected Areas Federal Advisory Committee by the Department of Commerce, in consultation with the Department of the Interior. She is one of 11 new members appointed to the 30-member committee. The charge of the committee is to advise the Departments of Commerce and the Interior on the development and implementation of a national system of marine protected areas (MPAs). Coleman was instrumental in developing two marine protected areas in the Gulf of Mexico during her tenure on the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council, the Madison Swanson Marine Reserve and the Steamboat Lumps Marine Reserve.