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Mary Cortese and the Fate of Subsistence Fishing in a Warmer World

Monday, September 29th, 2025

by Erin Minor

A school of silver fish and another school of yellow fish swim in a coral reef surrounded by blue water.
Bluestriped grunts and gray snapper, two important subsistence fish in the Mesoamerican region, school in a marine sanctuary in Belize. (Credit: Pete Oxford/ILCP)

Around the world, an estimated 52.8 million people engage in subsistence fishing—the practice of fishing to feed one’s family and community, where most of the food stays local. As ocean temperatures rise, so do concerns about how this will impact the fish populations these communities depend on.

Subsistence fisheries are difficult to track, due to lower reporting of catch numbers compared to industrial fishing. Subsistence fish are also usually smaller species that aren’t as economically valuable. But they are vital to the food security of these communities.

Mary Cortese is a postdoctoral fellow at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center (SERC). As part of her work with SERC’s Spatial Ecology and Conservation Lab and Marine Conservation Lab, she’s creating models to help understand how fish species in the Mesoamerican region will respond to rising sea temperatures through the end of the century.

“We want to know if the communities that depend on these fish as food sources will still have that resource under different, end-of-century climate scenarios,” said Cortese.

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Posted in Climate Change, Ecology, Fisheries | No Responses »

Six Stories From 2024 To Warm Your Heart (Not the Planet)

Friday, January 10th, 2025

by Kristen Goodhue

The year 2024 is set to go down as the hottest year on record since the mid-1800s (so far), shattering several additional records in its wake. Even for solutions-minded scientists like the ones we’re lucky to work with, there’s no denying it was a rough year for planet Earth. But that doesn’t erase the many bright moments and crucial steps forward that also marked the year.

At the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center (SERC), scientists have been finding new ways to sustain the Earth for the past six decades. This year the center will reach its 60th anniversary. To mark the occasion, we’ve rounded up our six favorite stories from 2024, from the groundbreaking and inspiring to the quirky and fun:

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Posted in Climate Change, Ecology, Education, Endangered Species, Fisheries, Participatory Science, Programs, SERC Sites and Scenes, Volunteers | No Responses »

Biodiversity Makes Reefs Tick—But It Needs Big Players

Wednesday, February 2nd, 2022

by Kristen Goodhue

Underwater photo of silver fish swimming over a reef, with orange, pink, brown and white coral.
A school of yellowtail kingfish (Seriola lalandi) at Lord Howe Island in Australia. The presence of large fish like yellowtails can help keep ecosystems healthy and productive, a new study found. (Credit: Rick Stuart Smith, Reef Life Survey)

Three thousand reefs. (Technically 3,040 reefs, for those who like precision.) That’s how many underwater sites scientists and volunteers poured over in the latest effort to uncover how much biodiversity matters for reef health.

The answer: Quite a lot.

Scientists have known for years that diverse fish communities help ocean ecosystems flourish, even when facing rising temperatures and climate change. But the latest study, published in Nature Communications, reveals it’s about more than the numbers. Which species call a reef home can matter just as much as how many there are. And that holds especially true when it comes to large predator fish.

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Posted in Climate Change, Ecology, Fisheries, Participatory Science, Publications | No Responses »

For Bay Oysters, Protection Plus Restoration Creates Healthiest Reefs

Thursday, June 10th, 2021

by Kristen Minogue

Actively restoring oyster reefs—beyond simply protecting them from harvest—can create big payoffs for habitat quality and the other species that flock to them. A new study from the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center (SERC), published June 10 in the journal Marine Ecology Progress Series, compared restored, protected and harvested areas using photos and video footage from roughly 200 sites.

Roughly a quarter of Maryland’s oyster habitat lies protected in oyster sanctuaries. But only a small fraction of those sanctuaries have undergone full-scale restorations, with reconstructed reefs and new live oyster plantings. The new paper offers an easier way to determine if those restorations are paying off.

“You’ve got to actively restore something,” said Keira Heggie, lead author of the study and a technician in SERC’s Fisheries Conservation Lab. “But if you actively restore something and then let it go by its wayside, then you’re not going to know exactly if it’s still doing well.” Click to continue »

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Posted in Ecology, Fisheries, Publications, Water Quality | No Responses »

Recreational Crabbing in Maryland Higher Than Current Estimates

Wednesday, April 14th, 2021

by Kristen Minogue

Two blue crabs with pink tags on a wooden table

Biologists outfitted crabs with these pink tags, offering a reward to crabbers who found them and reported the catch. (Credit: Kim Richie/SERC)

When it comes to recreational crabbing—one of the most iconic pastimes along Maryland’s shores—the current estimate of 8% of “total male commercial harvest” runs just a little too low. Biologists, with local community support, found stronger evidence for the underestimate in the first tagging study to estimate the recreational blue crab harvest statewide. Click to continue »

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Posted in Ecology, Fisheries, Publications | No Responses »

Stressed-Out Young Oysters May Grow Less Meat On Their Shells

Tuesday, March 2nd, 2021

Early Exposure to Heat and Low Oxygen Makes Oysters More Vulnerable to Same Stressors Later On

by Kristen Minogue

Gloved hand holding up a brown and white oyster next to the water

Eastern oyster (Crassostrea virginica) taken from the Choptank River on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. (Credit: Sarah Donelan)

Early exposure to tough conditions—particularly warmer waters and nightly swings of low oxygen—could leave lasting scars on oysters’ ability to grow meaty tissue. A team of biologists at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center (SERC) reported the discovery in a new study, published in the journal Ecological Applications.

Eastern oysters in Chesapeake Bay live mostly in shallow tributaries. It’s a rough environment for shellfish that can’t move. During hotter months, oxygen levels can swing drastically, from perfectly healthy levels in the day to near zero at night. To save energy, some oysters react by focusing more on shell growth than tissue growth. That could pose a problem for anyone involved in the seafood industry.

“What we all of course want to eat at the raw bar is the oyster tissue,” said Sarah Donelan, a SERC postdoctoral fellow and lead author of the new report. “Customers and restaurants might be less pleased if there’s less tissue in what looks to be a large oyster.”

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Posted in Ecology, Fisheries, Publications, Water Quality | No Responses »

Eelgrass Restoration Brings New Life To Virginia’s Once-Forsaken Bays

Tuesday, December 15th, 2020

by Kristen Minogue

Two decades ago, it was almost impossible to find eelgrass in Virginia’s South Bay—or many of the other small bays behind the barrier islands along the state’s eastern shore. After a barrage of disease followed by a powerful hurricane wiped them out by 1933, many thought the eelgrasses would never return. With the eelgrass went the brant goose, a popular waterfowl for sport hunting, and a lucrative bay scallop industry that had brought in millions of dollars per year.

“Because the bay scallop relies on the eelgrass as it’s growing up, it just completely disappeared and never came back,” said Jonathan Lefcheck, a marine biologist with the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center.

Today, a 20-year restoration has transformed South Bay and its neighboring bays into an oasis. But for the scientists leading the effort, restoring the eelgrass wasn’t enough. They wanted to find out if all the benefits eelgrasses provide would return as well. A new Science Advances report finally gave them their answer.
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Posted in Ecology, Fisheries, Participatory Science, Publications, Volunteers, Water Quality | No Responses »

Sharks Tags Reveal Endangered Species Returning To Natural Refuge

Wednesday, November 18th, 2020

by Kristen Minogue

In the coastal waters of the mid-Atlantic, an endangered shark is making a comeback. Led by former Smithsonian postdoc Chuck Bangley, scientists at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center (SERC) tagged and tracked nearly two dozen dusky sharks over the course of a year as part of the Smithsonian’s Movement of Life Initiative. They discovered a protected zone put in place 15 years ago is paying off—but it may need some tweaking with climate change.

Dusky sharks are what Bangley calls “the archetypal big, gray shark.” Born three feet long, as babies they’re already big enough to prey on some other shark species. But they’re slow growing. It can take 16 to 29 years for them to mature. If their populations take a hit, recovery can take decades.

The sharks’ numbers plummeted in the 1980s and 1990s, when well-intentioned managers offered sharks as an “alternative fishery” while other stocks, like cod, were collapsing. The overfishing that followed wiped out anywhere from 65 to 90 percent of the Chesapeake’s duskies, said Bangley, now a postdoc at Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia. Managers banned all intentional dusky shark fishing in 2000. Five years later, they created the Mid-Atlantic Shark Closed Area encompassing most of the North Carolina coast. The zone prohibits bottom longline fishing, which can accidentally ensnare dusky sharks, for seven months of the year.

But is the partial refuge working?

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Posted in Climate Change, Ecology, Endangered Species, Fisheries, Movement Of Life, Publications | No Responses »

Global “BiteMap” Reveals How Marine Food Webs May Change With Climate

Monday, October 26th, 2020

by Kristen Minogue

Blue and yellow fish approaching stick in sandy, turquoise water

A yellowtail fish approaches a “squid pop” in the coastal waters off Mexico. By planting squid pops (stakes with dried squid bait) in coastal waters around the world, ecologists were able to sketch a global “BiteMap” of fish feeding. (Credit: Brigitta van Tussenbroek/Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México)

Where are small marine animals most vulnerable to getting eaten? The answer has big consequences for coastal ecosystems, where most of the world’s fishing takes place, since predators can radically change underwater communities. In a new study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Oct. 26, an international team of scientists sketched the first global “BiteMap” showing where the ocean’s mid-sized predators are most active. By fishing with dried squid baits called “squid pops,” they discovered rising temperatures can shape entire communities of predators and have potential impacts lower down the food web.

“We know that communities around the world are changing with climate warming,” said Emmett Duffy, co-author on the paper and director of the Smithsonian’s Marine Global Earth Observatory program. But while warmer temperatures generally increase animal activities like eating, researchers are only just starting to grasp what those changes mean for marine ecosystems as a whole. “We might expect a soccer team, for example, to perform better in warm weather than in really cold conditions. But what if in the warmer conditions, the team switches out for different players? That can completely change the game.”

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U.N. Report Puts Spotlight on Seagrasses

Friday, July 31st, 2020

by Isabella Eclipse

Video created by United Nations Environment Programme

Appearances can be deceiving. At first glance, the humble seagrass meadow resembles a weedy underwater lawn. A closer look reveals one of the most important—and threatened—marine ecosystems in the world. Unfortunately, conservation efforts have often overlooked seagrass habitats.

“For a long time, people saw seagrass as a nuisance,” explained Jonathan Lefcheck, a biologist with the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center. It had a reputation for clogging boat propellers and washing up on beaches. “Tropical resorts would hire people to dig up seagrass in front of their beach because people would complain,” he added.

Though public perceptions have been changing, many people today are still unaware that seagrass meadows are rich and vibrant ecosystems like coral reefs or rainforests. A new report from the United Nations Environment Programme hopes to change that. Released June 8 on World Oceans Day, Out of the Blue compiles the latest findings from around the world on seagrasses and the valuable services they provide. SERC biologist Emmett Duffy served on the steering committee and helped synthesize the report.

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Posted in Climate Change, Endangered Species, Fisheries, Publications, Water Quality | No Responses »

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