Estuarine habitat has a significant influence on the growth, recruitment, and survival of fish and invertebrate species, and understanding habitat dynamics can improve fisheries management. However, the cost and effort associated with habitat monitoring can be limiting, and many large‐scale fisheries‐independent monitoring programs do not capture habitat and biological data concurrently. Consequently, fisheries and their associated habitats are often managed separately. We designed a pilot study to assess the utility and effectiveness of incorporating rapid in situ habitat characterization into a statewide fisheries management program. The occurrence of six focal species (Red Drum Sciaenops ocellatus, Spotted Seatrout Cynoscion nebulosus, blue crab Callinectes sapidus, Atlantic Croaker Micropogonias undulatus, brown shrimp Farfantepenaeus aztecus, and white shrimp Litopenaeus setiferus) and the overall faunal community composition were compared across estuarine habitats to assess the ability of this method to accurately depict fish–habitat associations. Focal species’ occurrence and community composition was significantly correlated with shoreline vegetation, seagrass presence, presence of mangroves, substrate type, and heterogeneity in vegetated habitat. This study demonstrates an effective approach to integrating habitat into fisheries‐independent monitoring in pursuit of an ecosystem‐based approach to fisheries management.

中文翻译：

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通过成对的渔业独立和原地栖息地评估来表征鱼类-栖息地协会

河口栖息地对鱼类和无脊椎动物的生长，募集和生存具有重大影响，了解栖息地动态可以改善渔业管理。但是，与栖息地监测相关的成本和工作可能受到限制，许多独立于大型渔业的监测计划不能同时捕获栖息地和生物数据。因此，渔业及其相关的栖息地通常是分开管理的。我们设计了一项试点研究，以评估将快速原位生境特征描述纳入全州渔业管理计划的实用性和有效性。六个重点物种（红鼓发生美国红鱼，云纹犬牙石首鱼云纹犬牙石首鱼，蓝蟹蓝蟹比较了整个河口生境中的大西洋Cro鱼Micropogonias undulatus，褐虾Farfantepenaeus aztecus和白虾Litopenaeus setiferus和整个动物群落组成，以评估该方法准确描绘鱼类-栖息地关联的能力。焦点物种的发生和群落组成与海岸线植被，海草的存在，红树林的存在，基质类型和植被生境的异质性显着相关。这项研究证明了一种有效的方法，可以将栖息地纳入独立于渔业的监测中，以追求基于生态系统的渔业管理方法。