| This project focuses on the population dynamics of sea scallops in the Middle Atlantic Bight and Georges Bank/Southern New England regions. Most sea scallop biomass now occurs within the confines of large federally mandated closed areas and the fishery has moved toward a rotational harvesting strategy. With this dissertation we develop a biophysical model that enables the role of physical variability in this system, and how it interacts with life history processes to shape local and global population dynamics for sea scallops. The modeling effort will link hind-cast circulation simulations, an individual- based model for larval drift and an adult, size-structured, spatial population model. The results of these modeling efforts are compiled and interpreted in such a way as to be useful to managers of the sea scallop fishery. The final goal is to provide information about the impacts of environmental factors on sea scallop population dynamics so that the fishery can be managed proactively instead of reactively. Understanding the connections between sea scallop sub-populations, and how they vary from year to year, should be valuable in assessing the impacts of various real-world management strategies. The thesis is organized in four chapters: the first is an introduction, the second develops the dispersal kernels, the third integrates them into a metapopulation model, and the fourth describes the entire project in a style appropriate for a technical magazine. |
