The abundance of key fisheries species like oysters, blue crabs, and spotted seatrout has declined in the Gulf of Mexico. These species have proved to be invaluable assets by providing nutritional food, community recreation, and cultural resources. Today, the ecosystem services provided by these key species are threatened or near collapse in Gulf estuaries. This is partially due to human activities and environmental trends such as fisheries harvest and changes in water and habitat quality. However, many underlying mechanisms that relate to long-term trends and short-term variability in the environment are unknown or unquantified regarding the changing populations of oysters, blue crabs, and spotted seatrout. This project identifies temperature, salinity, oxygen, and pH thresholds for oyster, blue crab, and spotted seatrout populations in Mobile Bay, Alabama. Current and future habitat conditions, including climate variability and human-induced stressors, are the basis of these thresholds.

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The Baker Lab is leading four separate efforts on this project. The first is an assessment of long-term drivers of community dynamics using a 40-year historic dataset of nekton abundance to assess trends and potential correlations with environmental conditions. The second sub-project examines drivers of variation of growth of spotted seatrout and other fisheries species with consideration of environmental barriers and prey abundance as potential drivers. The Baker lab is also analyzing the historic production of key fisheries species in different regions to forecast shifts in productivity. Lastly, the Baker Lab will assess the relative importance of critical nursery habitats for blue crabs, spotted seatrout, and other fisheries species. The end products of this project include predictive models of fisheries species production and growth, a reassessment of key nursery habitats, and identifications of the key environmental drivers influencing fisheries species and overall nekton communities in coastal Alabama.