My principal scientific interests and experiences focus on understanding fisheries sustainability in an ecosystem context as part of renewable natural resource conservation and management programs. I have been involved in a variety of interdisciplinary projects that aim to quantitatively assess how natural and human-induced stressors may interactively modulate harvested fish and shellfish population dynamics and influence policy decision-making. Examples include interactive effects of species invasion & eutrophication, chemical pollution & hydrological alteration, and climate variability & harvesting on the sustainability of pelagic and demersal species exploited by commercial, recreational, and subsistence fisheries in marine and freshwater systems in North America (e.g., New England/Mid-Atlantic, the Laurentian Great Lakes, Flemish Cap) and Europe (e.g., Barents Sea, North Sea).

My recent work entails quantitative method (statistical and mathematical model) development and application to assess exploited living marine resource status, forecast sustainable yields, and evaluate management strategies by integrating large-scale survey and fishery catch sampling data at population, community (incl. food web), and ecosystem levels in the context of ecosystem-based management. Here are some examples:

For more on my research: Google Scholar or ResearchGate.

Links

Ecologists find strong evidence of fishing down the food web in freshwater lake

Researchers document walleye decline in Wisconsin waters

Study Confirms Walleye Populations Are In Decline

Ambitious new pollution targets needed to protect Lake Erie from massive 'dead zone'

Heavy Metal in the Food Chain

  • PhD: Biological Oceanography
    City University of New York, The Graduate Center,
  • MPhil: Biological Oceanography
    City University of New York, The Graduate Center,
  • BSc: Biological Sciences
    DePaul University,

2023

2022

2020

  • PublishedDivergent density feedback control of migratory predator recovery following sex-biased perturbations
    Goto, D., Hamel, M. J., Pegg, M. A., Hammen, J. J., Rugg, M. L. & Forbes, V. E., 1 May 2020, In: Ecology and Evolution. 10, 9, p. 3954-3967 14 p.
    Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
  • PublishedShifting trophic control of fishery-ecosystem dynamics following biological invasions
    Goto, D., Dunlop, E. S., Young, J. D. & Jackson, D. A., Dec 2020, In: Ecological Applications. 30, 8, e02190.
    Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
  • PublishedShifting Trophic Control of Fishery–Ecosystem Dynamics Following Biological Invasions
    Goto, D., Dunlop, E. S., Young, J. D. & Jackson, D. A., 1 Oct 2020, In: The Bulletin of the Ecological Society of America. 101, 4, p. e01764
    Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
  • PublishedThe third Workshop on Guidelines for Management Strategy Evaluations (WKGMSE3)
    Bartolino, V., Bergès, B., Bjornsson, H., Brooks, M. E., Butterworth, D., Campbell, A., Cardinale, M., Carruthers-Taylor, T., Cervino, S., Chernega, G., Cole, H., de Moor, C., De Oliveira, J., Deroba, J., Die, D., Duprey, N., Fay, G., Fischer, S., Garcia, D. & Gillespie, K. & 38 others, Goto, D., Gras, M., Greenlaw, M., Haase, S., Hanke, A., Hjörleifsson, E., Howell, D., Kell, L., Kempf, A., Kitakado, T., Konrad, C., Kronlund, A., Lambert, G., Levontin, P., Mazur, M., Miethe, T., Miller, D., Mosqueira, I., Noble, V., Orio, A., Parma, A., Pastoors, M., Perez-Rodriguez, A., Pipernos, S., Plikšs, M., Sparrevohn, C., Rohlf, N., Ross-Gillespie, A., Sanchez, S., Sharma, R., Siple, M., Solinger, L., Sparholt, H., Spence, M., Taylor, M., Thorpe, R., Wilson, A. & Winker, H., 2020, (ICES Scientific Reports)
    Research output: Book/Report › Commissioned report

2019

  • PublishedFishing down then up the food web of an invaded lake
    Dunlop, E. S., Goto, D. & Jackson, D. A., 1 Oct 2019, In: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 116, 40, p. 19995-20001 7 p.
    Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
  • PublishedMovement rule selection through eco-genetic modeling: Application to diurnal vertical movement
    Hrycik, A. R., Collingsworth, P. D., Sesterhenn, T. M., Goto, D. & Höök, T. O., 7 Oct 2019, In: Journal of Theoretical Biology. 478, p. 128-138 11 p.
    Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
  • PublishedWorkshop on Guidelines for Management Strategy Evaluations (WKGMSE2)
    Bertignac, M., Bjornsson, H., Brooks, M. E., Brunel, T., Butterworth, D., Campbell, A., Cerviño, S., Deroba, J., Elvarsson, B. T., Fischer, S., Garcia, D., Goto, D., Gras, M., Hintzen, N., Holmgren, N., Howell, D., Huynh, Q., Jardim, E., Kell, L. & Konrad, C. & 12 others, Kraak, S., Kronlund , A., Levontin, P., Lordan, C., Mendes, H., Miethe, T., Mosqueira, I., De Oliveira, J., Pastoors, M., Pinto, C., Sparrevohn, C. & Taylor, M., 2019, ( ICES Scientific Reports)
    Research output: Book/Report › Commissioned report
  • PublishedWorkshop on North Sea Stocks Management Strategy Evaluation (WKNSMSE)
    Bartolino, V., Berges, B., Brooks, M. E., Cardinale, M., Cole, H., de Moor, C., De Oliveira, J., Devine, J., Dunn, M., Fischer, S., Goto, D., Hintzen, N., Howell, D., Jardim, E., Kempf, A., Kvamme, C., Maersk Lusseau, S., Mackinson, S., Mannini, A. & Miethe, T. & 12 others, Millar, S., Miller, D., Mosegaard, H., Mosqueira, I., Needle, C., Nielsen, A., Pastoors, M., Pinto, C., Rohlf, N., Sparrevohn, C., Trijoulet, V. & Walker, N., 2019, (ICES Scientific Reports)
    Research output: Book/Report › Commissioned report

2018

2017

2015

2014

  • PublishedAssessing and addressing the re-eutrophication of Lake Erie: Central basin hypoxia
    Scavia, D., David Allan, J., Arend, K. K., Bartell, S., Beletsky, D., Bosch, N. S., Brandt, S. B., Briland, R. D., Daloğlu, I., DePinto, J. V., Dolan, D. M., Evans, M. A., Farmer, T. M., Goto, D., Han, H., Höök, T. O., Knight, R., Ludsin, S. A., Mason, D. & Michalak, A. M. & 8 others, Peter Richards, R., Roberts, J. J., Rucinski, D. K., Rutherford, E., Schwab, D. J., Sesterhenn, T. M., Zhang, H. & Zhou, Y., 26 Feb 2014, In: Journal of Great Lakes Research. 40, 2, p. 226-246 21 p.
    Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

2012

2011

2010

2009

2008

2007

2005

2024

2021

2020

  • The third Workshop on Guidelines for Management Strategy Evaluations

    This workshop is the third in a series of workshops on guidelines for developing Management Strategy Evaluations (MSEs) within ICES, and was intended to explore some of the issues that arose out of workshops that actually developed MSEs for a range of ICES stocks since the second MSE guidelines workshop was held in early 2019. It is intended that results and conclusions herein be used to update the guidelines for conducting MSEs within ICES further.In addition to reviewing existing work, new analyses were prepared especially for this workshop under TORs c (risk and uncertainty), d (more efficient tuning in MSEs) and e (shortcut vs. full MSEs). TOR a covered reference points, and this workshop proposed a framework for calculat-ing reference points from simulation models used in MSEs when an MSE is conducted for a stock. TOR b considered how to handle alternative operating models when reporting results from MSEs, and the workshop made two proposals for how this could be done based on approaches used in other fora where MSEs are developed routinely. Under TOR c, some ideas were put forward based on comparing risk to an unfished scenario such that the inclusion of additional (realistic) uncertainty was not unduly penalised, and could be used to deal with the situation (e.g. for short-lived species) where risk in an unfished scenario was already close to or greater than 5%. There were several proposals for increasing the efficiency of tuning in MSEs under TOR d, particularly when computation time was a factor (e.g. when full MSEs have relatively complex analytical assessments imbedded in the management procedure being evaluated). These were based both on statistical techniques, and a method for identifying the Pareto-optimal solutions that focuses on trade-offs among competing objectives. TOR e (shortcut vs. full MSEs) was the most contentious, but nevertheless useful because it made out the way harvest control rule eval-uations (and more recently full MSEs) conducted in ICES compared to MSE approaches else-where more clearly evident, and highlighted alternative interpretations of the shortcut method. There was discussion of the pros and cons of the full and shortcut methods, including alternative views of how some of the shortcomings in each could be addressed.Several recommendations are made, including a dedicated workshop on reference points, con-sideration of more flexible MSE approaches (such as developing empirical management proce-dures), improving communication between scientists, managers and stakeholders when devel-oping MSEs, and a further MSE guidelines workshop that includes consideration of when per-formance of the HCR/management strategy is not as intended, under both the full and shortcut MSE approaches, as indicated by the results from the simulations.

    26 Oct 2020 – 30 Oct 2020

    Links:

    Activity: Participation in Academic workshop, seminar, course (Speaker)

2019

  • Workshop on North Sea stocks management strategy evaluation

    WKNSMSE (Workshop on North Sea stocks Management Strategy Evaluation) took place over two physical meetings (19-21 November 2018 and 26-28 February 2019, but at ICES HQ, Copenhagen) and several WebEx meetings, was chaired by José De Oliveira (UK) and included 30 par-ticipants from Denmark, Germany, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, UK and the European Commission, and two reviewers from South African and New Zealand. The purpose of this work was to evaluate long-term management strategies for jointly-managed stocks in the North Sea (cod, haddock, whiting, saithe and autumn-spawning herring) between the European Union and Norway, following a request from EU-Norway. The first physical meeting provided an ICES interpretation of the EU-Norway request, agreed the specifications of the MSE, decided on the tools and approaches to use, and developed a work plan, while the second meeting (and subsequent follow-up WebEx meetings) discussed results, developed conclusions, ensured the minimum requirements for conducting MSEs (developed by WKGMSE2) were met, and finalised the report. ICES were tasked to find “optimal” combinations of harvest control rule parameters (Ftarget and Btrigger) for management strategies with or without stability mechanisms (TAC constraints and banking and borrowing scenarios). “Optimal” combinations were defined as those combinations of Ftarget and Btrigger that simultaneously maximised long-term yield while being precautionary (long-term risk3≤5%). The request also asked for sensitivity tests once the management strategies were “optimised”. The approach adopted for all stocks was to include the assessment and fore-cast in a full-feedback MSE simulation, and to condition the baseline operating model on the benchmarked ICES assessment. The one exception was haddock, where it was not possible to include TSA in the full-feedback simulation because it was too slow to converge and requires manual intervention; SAM was used instead as a reasonable approximation. The approach also considered alternative operating models to capture a broader range of uncertainties. Full-feed-back simulations were computationally challenging and required the use of parallelisation and high-performance computing; it also meant that the time-frame for the work was extremely tight, and in some cases, analyses were restricted. Nonetheless, the work was completed for all stocks, and “optimal” combinations for most management strategies were found. There were some no-table issues that arose through this suite of MSEs, including that some management strategies that were precautionary in the long-term could have unsavoury and avoidable features in the short term (depending on the management strategy), and that reference points estimated by EqSim were, in many cases, no longer found to be precautionary in the MSE.

    26 Feb 2019 – 28 Feb 2019

    Links:

    Activity: Participation in Academic workshop, seminar, course (Participant)
  • Workshop on Guidelines for Management Strategy Evaluations

    The purpose of the meeting was to bring up to date the methodologies and technical specifications that should be incorporated in Management Strategy Evaluation (MSE) work in ICES. The workshop was tasked with reviewing recent methodological and practical MSE work conducted in ICES and around the world, as well as the guidelines provided by the 2013 ICES Workshop on Guidelines for Management Strategy Evaluations (WKGMSE). The Terms of Reference indicated that the revision should include all aspects involved in MSE, while paying specific attention to several issues that had been identified through ICES practice. The Terms of Reference also requested WKGMSE 2 to consider how best to disseminate the guidelines to experts within the ICES community and the need for training courses. The workshop addressed all its Terms of Reference.The main results of the workshop are the revised MSE guidelines, as well as recommendations in relation to the ICES criterion for defining a management strategy as precautionary and in relation to the evaluation and advice on rebuilding strategies.

    4 Feb 2019 – 8 Feb 2019

    Links:

    Activity: Participation in Academic workshop, seminar, course (Participant)

2018

  • Workshop on the evaluation of harvest control rules for Sebastes mentella in ICES areas 1 and 2

    A pelagic fishery for Sebastes mentella has developed in the Norwegian Sea outside EEZs since 2004. This fishery is managed by the Northeast Atlantic Fisheries Commis-sion (NEAFC). In the Barents Sea, where fisheries are managed by the Joint Norwegian-Russian Fisheries Commission (JNRFC), there had been no directed fishery for this stock from the 1990s until 2013. A new directed demersal and pelagic fishery was opened in the Norwegian Economic Zone in 2014. The 44th Session of JNRFC decided to split the total TAC among countries as follows: Norway: 72%, Russia: 18%, Third countries: 10% (as bycatch in the fishery protection zone at Svalbard (Spitsbergen): 4.1%, and international waters of the Norwegian Sea (NEAFC-area): 5.9%). This split was reconducted at the 47th session of JNRFC in 2017, but there is no agreement be-tween JNRFC and NEAFC concerning this split.

    No management plan exists for this stock. From 1995 to 2012, the ICES advice had been no directed catch/lowest possible level. From 2013 onwards, the basis of the advice has been somewhat ad hoc and has varied (F0.1 in 2013, status quo catch in 2014, precautionary approach in 2015–2018).

    ICES was requested to test a wide range of harvest control rules for this stock. The request is given in Annex 1 and the list of participants in Annex 2.

    This working group was conducted by correspondence, with reviewer comments available after the draft report was finalized. We have therefore inserted some sections to address the comments and concerns.

    Jun 2018 – Aug 2018

    Links:

    Activity: Participation in Academic workshop, seminar, course (Participant)