Matthew Breece, assistant professor of marine science, entered the semester with $500,000 in grant funding over three years toward expanding a project he and collaborators began several years ago in Delaware to predict the occurrences of Atlantic Sturgeon as they traverse rivers and coastal waters. Known as the Atlantic Sturgeon Occurrence Model, this project was created in an effort to reduce potential threats to the endangered species.
Breece says predictions built through the collection and analysis of daily data, such as water depth and temperature that can be accessed by users in real time, much like a weather forecaster can predict storms, watermen and other users of coastal waters can predict sturgeon occurrence to better avoid them. NOAA Fisheries lists the Atlantic Sturgeon distinct population segments as endangered or threatened, with the main threats being entanglement in fishing gear, habitat degradation, habitat impediments and vessel strikes.
Breece says creating tools like the Atlantic Sturgeon Occurrence Model allow users of coastal waters to plan their activities to reduce their encounters with endangered species. The just over $500,000 subaward from NASA Biodiversity and Ecological Conservation will go toward expanding the geography and user base of the model by collecting and integrating tracking data from partners in Delaware, New York and South Carolina, combined with satellite data on sea surface temperature.
