As fisheries management continues to incorporate ecosystem considerations and multi-species interactions into the management arena, the focus of management has been shifting from single species approaches to an ecosystem based fisheries management (EBFM).

Two EBRM projects are ongoing in QuaFEL

CAMEO-Patterns of Connectivity in Northwest Atlantic Fishery Ecosystems

Researchers from the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science, Stony Brook University, University of Rhode Island, Virginia Institute of Marine Science and NOAA-Fisheries collaboratid on this NSF-funded project to quantify the sources, patterns and consequences of connectivity among 10 marine fishery ecosystems. The project involved synthesis and analysis of existing fishery-dependent and fishery-independent data to detect patterns of connectivity within the Northwest Atlantic Coastal Shelf Ecosystem. Population and ecosystem models were aslo developed.s

Ecosystem-based Reference Points for the Atlantic Menhaden Fishery

This Lenfest-funded projects assessed potential ecosystem-based reference points for managing Atlantic menhaden within an Ecopath with Ecosim framework, using data from fishery-dependent and fishery-independent surveys.

In addition, the lab has completed several earlier projects which lead the way toward implementing EAFM in the region

1) Chesapeake Bay Fisheries: Prospects for Multispecies Management and Sustainability

2) Chesapeake Bay Fishery Ecosystem Plan

3) CHESFIMS

4) Delaware Estuary Fishery Ecosystem Model.