AFMIS Advanced Fisheries Management  and Information System

The Advanced Fisheries Management Information System (AFMIS) is intended to apply state-of-the-art multidisciplinary and computational capabilities to high-frequency operational fisheries management. The system development concept is aimed toward: 1) utilizing information on the "state" of ocean physics, biology, and chemistry; the assessment of spatially-resolved fish-stock population dynamics and the temporal-spatial deployment of fishing effort to be used in the operational management of fish stocks; and, 2) forecasting and understanding physical and biological conditions leading to recruitment variability. Systems components are being developed in the context of using the Harvard Ocean Prediction System to support or otherwise interact with the: 1) synthesis and analysis of very large data sets; 2) building of a multidisciplinary multiscale model (coupled ocean physics/N-P-Z/fish dynamics/management models) appropriate for the northwest Atlantic shelf, particularly Massachusetts Bay and Georges Bank; 3) the application and development of data assimilation techniques; and, 4) with an emphasis on the incorporation of remotely sensed data into the data stream. 

This nowcasting and forecasting exercise is intended to demonstrate important aspects of the AFMIS concept by producing real time coupled forecasts of physical fields, biological and chemical fields, and fish abundance fields. Forecasts in three spatial dimensions will be produced to verify the physics, to validate the biology and chemistry but only to demonstrate the concept of forecasting the fish fields, since the fish dynamical models are at a very early stage of development. In addition, it is intended to demonstrate the integrated system concept and to consider the implication of coupling a management model.

The forecasts presented here have been generated by researchers at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth and Harvard University for demonstration purposes only.  Information provided here should not be used for purposes of navigation, policy making, or decisions regarding commercial fishing activities.  Distribution of forecast products is restricted to participants and authorized affiliates of the Applied Fisheries Management and Information System (AFMIS) program sponsored by the National Aeronautic and Space Administration (NASA). The contents of this site include raw data and preliminary analyses which, pending publication, are considered proprietary by AFMIS program participants. The availability of these data and analyses on this web site does not imply permission to use, copy, reproduce, or re-distribute these data.  Permission must be obtained from the AFMIS principal investigators before these data may be used for research purposes outside the scope of AFMIS.

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