The Community Advisory Board (CAB) met on January 26th to review the Scope of Work for Phase IV, which includes:
- evaluating the framework adaptive management and restoration plan priorities adopted in November
- identifying restoration strategies and projects
- planning to seek funding to implement the CAB’s priority recommendations
During Phase IV, many public agencies such as FWC, FDACS, and DEP will have the opportunity to provide input on the draft restoration strategies outlined in the framework plan. Additionally, Phase IV will include a community feedback initiative to solicit public input on the framework plan.
The CAB spent the majority of the meeting listening to and discussing presentations on predictive models that are under development for use as decision tools for adaptive management applications. Models under development include an ecological model, river flow model, hydrodynamic model, predictive habitat model, and riverine model.
The models will be used to predict oyster recruitment, growth, and productivity under different scenarios, and can help inform decisions such as selection of restoration locations. The presentations began with an overview from Jeff Blair on the collaborative modeling process through which stakeholder input will be gathered to inform development and use of the models. Each modeler then gave a presentation followed by a Q&A that provided an opportunity for stakeholder input.
To ensure complete transparency, the entire history of the deliberations from each of the 17 meetings (14 CAB meetings and 3 Oystermen's Workshops) since March 2020, including copies of all presentations and meeting recordings are available on the ABSI Community Advisory Board website.
Note: Due to COVID-19, meetings of the CAB have taken place virtually using ZOOM since the May 2020 meeting. The ABSI Team hopes to resume in-person meetings beginning with our upcoming meeting on March 30th.