Abstract
Lower trophic level organisms (zooplankton, small pelagic fishes, invertebrates, etc.,
hereafter “forage taxa”) are of critical importance to commercial and recreational fisheries and
coastal ecology. Forage taxa can be sensitive to environmental change, which may translate to
behavior and/or population changes of their predators, such as larger fish, marine mammals, and
seabirds. Impacts to these linkages may have consequences for both regional ecology and
economy. Despite their key ecological and economic roles, forage taxa, particularly fishes and
invertebrates, are poorly sampled, and there still remains significant knowledge gaps in identifying
drivers of their biomass, abundance, behavior, seasonality, and life history.
At the 2024 State of the Science Workshop, hosted by the New York State Energy Research
and Development Authority (NYSERDA), we hosted a side meeting titled “Untangling the Marine
Food Web: Bridging Knowledge Gaps to Better Understand Forage Taxa in the Mid-Atlantic
Bight” focused on the state of the science on forage taxa in the Mid-Atlantic Bight. Taking
inspiration from the ‘Squid Squad’, a collaborative working group focused on short and longfin
squid dynamics, and discussions regarding the lack of information on forage fish at the 2024
Cooperative Research Summit, we invited diverse experts and stakeholders (fishermen, offshore
wind (OSW) industry, management, academics, etc.) to: 1) Summarize knowledge on forage taxa
in the Mid-Atlantic Bight; 2) Identify shared research and monitoring priorities among different
forage taxa; and 3) Create a framework to develop future collaborations for effectively addressing
key knowledge gaps in research and monitoring priorities, specifically in the context of offshore
wind development.
Here, we present the summary and outcomes of this side meeting. Discussions shared
several key themes, particularly the need for: 1) Data standardization surrounding forage taxa; 2)
Dedicated data scientists to analyze said data; and 3) Establishment of surveys specifically
targeting forage taxa