NEW COURSE

Fisheries Ecology and Management II

FAS 6932

Section 3681

Location: Department of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences

Time: Fridays Lecture 9:00-10:30 Lab 10:45-12:00

Office Hours: Fridays by appointment

Instructor: Dr. Carl Walters

Registration information: Students that will be taking the class locally (UF main campus) should contact Ms. Sherry Giardina 352.392.9617 ext 233 to register for the class.

The aim of this course is to provide students with concepts and methods needed to work effectively as a consultant or government scientist on common problems in applied fish biology. These problems range from analysis of fish habitat and population status in relation to conservation and environmental management issues, to fish stock and ecosystem assessment needed for sustainable harvest management. The course is organized as two meetings each week, a two-hour lecture on a broad topic then a one-hour tutorial or lab/field session to demonstrate specific methods of data gathering and analysis on the topic. Most of the tutorial sessions are computer-based “laboratories” where students will learn spreadsheet and other methods for data analysis.

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Textbook: Fisheries Ecology and Management,

Carl. J. Walters and Steven J.D. Martell.

2004 Princeton University Press

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Software: This course will make frequent use of Excel and Ecopath. You should make sure that your version of Excel has the Solver add-inn installed. To add Solver to Excel, open Excel, click the Tools tab, then click Add-ins, and click the Solver box. We will also be using Ecopath which is available for free download from http://www.ecopath.org. Once you install Ecopath, you should navigate to the Program Director, then to the Ecopath program file, and replace the existing ecopath.exe file with this one.

A limited number of teaching laptops will be available each week during lab session.

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Week	LECTURE TOPIC	TUTORIAL TOPIC
1	Overview of issues in applied fish biology	Basic population behavior
2	Ecological basis of sustainable populations	Optimum harvest strategies Readings: Lorenzen, Conover, Denney, Beddington
3	Life history trajectories	Recruitment models Reading: Walters and Hilborn recruitment reconstruction
4	Foraging arena theory	Foraging arena models, Ecosim Readings: Swain et al. growth, Sinclair, Compensation review
5	Age, growth, and fecundity patterns	Spreadsheets for growth estimation Reading: Olsen, Heino
6	Bioenergetics analysis for prediction of growth and assessment of predation impact	Spreadsheets for assessment of food intake Readings: Bioenergetics, Essington, Charnov
7	Environmental tolerances and niches	Spreadsheets for effects of changes in age structure; Readings: Counterintuitive
8	Estimation of local fish abundance and population structure	Readings: Folly and Fantasy, Life history review
9	Tagging experiments for movement, mortality, and harvest rate	Spreadsheet methods for abundance, survival
10	Designing effective field sampling programs	Simulated field sampling
Nov 9	Holiday
11	Fish stock assessment using generalized removal methods	Spreadsheets for fitting population models
12	MPAs, Stock enhancement, and ITQs

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Tentative Assignment Dates

WEEK	Assignment	Due
Aug 31	Assignment 1, Compensation	Sept 7
Sep 7	Assignment 2, Growth	Sept 14
Sep 14	Assignment 3, Catch reconstruction	Sept 21
Sep 21	Assignment 4, Harvest policy	Sept 28
Sep 28	Assignment 5, Growth	Oct 5 Papers
Oct 5	Assignment 6, Energetics	Oct 12
Oct 12	Assignment 7, Energetics-respiration	Oct 19
Oct 19	Assignment 8, Mark-recapture	Oct 26
Oct 26	Assignment 9, Effects of fishing	Nov 2
Nov 2	Assignment 10, SRA	Nov 9
Dec 7	MPA	Hillborn, McLanahan, Halpern, Fiorenza, Debate paper

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Data sets

Mullet surplus production

Mullet vuls

Menhaden caa

Growth trajectory

Systematic vs. Random

Yellowfin Surplus Production

Age structure (lab 8)

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ACADEMIC HONESTY: As a result of completing the registration form at the University of Florida, every student has signed the following statements: “I understand that the University of Florida expects its students to be honest in all their academic work. I agree to adhere to this commitment to academic honesty and to understand that my failure to comply with this commitment may result in disciplinary action up to and including expulsion from the University.”

STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES: Reasonable accommodations will be made for students with verifiable disabilities. To take advantage of accommodations students must register with the Dean of Students office.

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For more information contact Bill Pine billpine@ufl.edu