Adaptive Management in Practice and the Problem of Application at Multiple Scales—Insights from Oyster Reef Restoration on Florida’s Gulf Coast

Abstract

Adaptive management has been adopted as the standard approach to inform the multi-billion-dollar post-Deepwater Horizon coastal restoration programs in the Gulf of Mexico. An adaptive management process can help restoration projects at multiple spatial scales-from local shorelines to entire ecosystems-by identifying critical uncertainties and guiding restoration actions away from trial and error and toward an evidence-based approach. Based on our experiences, we identify challenges that must be overcome in developing large-scale adaptive management in the Gulf of Mexico. We demonstrate how the likelihood of restoration success for eastern oyster Crassostrea virginica and other resources could increase through (1) better matching monitoring efforts and funding with on-the-ground restoration efforts and (2) coordinating similar research projects at multiple scales to share challenges, solutions, and knowledge by creating spatially and temporally replicated restoration projects to identify best restoration practices. We agree with recent U.S. National Academy of Science assessments that adaptive management offers the best framework to guide restoration in the Gulf of Mexico, but we challenge practitioners, policymakers, and managers to recognize the need for strong leadership to implement this framework as originally proposed (but rarely practiced), so that opportunities for learning are not lost.

Collapsed oyster populations in large Florida estuaries appear resistant to restoration using traditional cultching methods—Insights from ongoing efforts in multiple systems

“…Uncertainty can be addressed effectively by using the adaptive management framework (Holling 1978; Walters 1986; Pine et al 2022)—an approach for improving natural resource management by systematically learning from management outcomes. Adaptive management approaches to restoration have been recommended by the Deepwater Horizon Natural Resource Damage Assessment Trustees (2017) and by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NAS; 2017, 2022), but so far these recommendations have not been widely implemented for oyster restoration (Pine et al 2022). Greater commitment to adaptive management can improve learning, ultimately improving restoration outcomes (Pine et al 2022).…”

“…Adaptive management approaches to restoration have been recommended by the Deepwater Horizon Natural Resource Damage Assessment Trustees (2017) and by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NAS; 2017, 2022), but so far these recommendations have not been widely implemented for oyster restoration (Pine et al 2022). Greater commitment to adaptive management can improve learning, ultimately improving restoration outcomes (Pine et al 2022).…”

“…Johnson et al (2022) demonstrated the risk of a transition to a stable, resilient, low‐population state for oysters and the difficulty of reversing this to a more desired state in a generalized oyster population model. The scale of restoration or natural perturbation that would be necessary to shift this system from a resilient but undesired state to a desired, more productive state is unknown (Pine et al 2022). However, a reversal of the collapse is likely to require many orders of magnitude more effort than has been attempted so far (Johnson et al 2022).…”

“…Many restoration efforts in the Gulf of Mexico and elsewhere have not had the desired outcome (LaPeyre et al 2022; NAS 2022). Uncertainty about how to restore and manage oyster populations has persisted for decades or even centuries in Florida (Swift 1897, 1898; Pine et al 2015), and there has long been a call to incorporate more learning into restoration and management programs (Walters 1986, 2007; Gunderson 1999; Bouwes et al 2016; NAS 2022; Pine et al 2022). The adaptive management framework offers a systematic way to do this (Holling 1978).…”

Demography of Oysters Pre‐ and Postcollapse in Apalachicola Bay, Florida, Using Stage‐Based Counts

“…The continuing uncertainty about oyster demography in Apalachicola Bay could hinder ongoing restoration efforts. The Deepwater Horizon oil spill and subsequent court settlements have led to unprecedented funding to restore oysters and the ecosystem goods and services that they provide (US$199 million to Gulf of Mexico states; Pine et al 2022). There have been at least four associated restoration projects in Apalachicola Bay since 2015, in which over 100,000 m 3 of shell or limestone have been deployed on oyster reefs (so-called "cultching") throughout the bay (W. E. Pine, unpublished data).…”