Empirical Studies in Support of a Pink Shrimp, Farfantepenaeus duorarum, Simulation Model for Florida Bay

A Tortugas/Florida Bay pink shrimp simulation model has been identified as a priority need in CERP by the South Florida Water Management District, NOAA, NPS and USGS. This model has been under development through the collaboration of a team of National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), USGS and University of Miami (UM) researchers since 1997. To date this project has been funded by NOAA’s Coastal Oceans Program, DOI’s Critical Ecosystem Studies Initiative and by USGS base funds. The purpose of the model is to assist in designing and refining restoration alternatives by predicting their impact on production of pink shrimp in Florida Bay and on shrimp recruitment from Florida Bay to the Tortugas fishery.

A series of monitoring or empirical studies either have been completed or are ongoing. The NMFS continues to monitor Tortugas pink shrimp harvest and develop the simulation model and has completed pink shrimp salinity/temperature tolerance experiments. USGS is continuing to monitor pink shrimp distribution and abundance in relation to environmental conditions and habitat in Florida Bay and to measure water flow in order to estimate postlarval transport within the Bay. With UM a critical collaborative study to identify and quantify the seasonality and magnitude of pathways of postlarval immigration to Florida Bay is continuing. Statistical studies of these and other data are ongoing relating pink shrimp to salinity, temperature and habitat in Florida Bay.