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Recent attempts to regulate the export marine ornamental fisheries in Puerto Rico encountered serious challenges rooted in information gaps concerning the nature and size of the fisheries and their impacts, as well as to communication deficiencies between resource managers and fishers. In response, regulators initiated a three-phase program to (1) characterize fisher numbers, methods and exports; (2) assess populations of exploited species; and (3) develop and propose appropriate fishery management approaches for subsequent application. This presentation summarizes the recently completed second phase of this program designed to produce population estimates of exploited species. This study evaluated wild populations of >20 fish and >20 invertebrate species targeted by the export fishery to develop minimum population estimates for comparison against annual harvest statistics. Field species counts in numerous habitat types were correlated with NOAA habitat maps to provide conservative population estimates, creating "at least as many as x" population totals useful for applying Precautionary Principal attributes to fishery management policy development. Impacts of the existing fisheries were determined to be low, but steady and dramatic increases in world demand for marine ornamentals will continue to build economic pressure for growth of these fisheries, creating urgency for development of rational management decision-making prior to the onset of uncontrolled growth.

Introduction:Vulnerable populations were the most impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. This included those with underlying health conditions, self-employed, low-income, people with limited access to health care, and the elderly. To capture these lessons and identify resilience actions, the Health Emergency and Disaster Risk Management (Health EDRM) Framework was used to guide the application of the Public Health System Resilience Scorecard (Scorecard).Method:This study was conducted in Australia, Bangladesh, Japan, Slovenia, Turkey, and the United States. Participants included emergency professionals, doctors, nurses, environmental health specialists, researchers, and government officials. The Scorecard was used to rank the level of preparedness from 0-5 (5 the highest) for the public health system resilience indicators. Following the individual workshops, recommendations were collated and interpreted to develop consolidated priority actions.Results:The priority actions related to surge capacity, mental health, ecosystems, societal needs, and high-risk populations. To address surge capacity issues, determining whether existing disaster structures have the capacity to provide support for hospitals during patient surges. This could include services that enable telehealth and primary health care to support hospitals during a crisis. Mental health services at the local government level should be evaluated and awareness of ecosystem risks in urban and rural areas needs to increase. Strategies for achieving reciprocal trust are required to enable uptake of public health information, and the extent at which pre-existing chronic health issues are likely to exacerbate needs to be understood and addressed.Conclusion:This study revealed several areas for strengthening public health system resilience. Priority actions relate to addressing needs relating to surge capacity, mental health, ecosystems, societal needs, and high-risk populations. This serves as a framework for transforming public health systems to become more adaptive, flexible, and focused on enabling societies to function at the highest possible level when responding to a disaster or pandemics.