Model
Digital Document
Publisher
Florida Atlantic University Digital Library
Description
Marine fisheries scientists, user groups, and resource managers in the southeastern
Atlantic states have determined that there is need for accurate information on the
location and extent of hard-bottom habitat, which is of importance to the maintenance of
reef-fish stocks. Reef fish have declined to such low levels that reproductive stocks are
often inadequate to maintain current populations, and some fisheries stocks may be
approaching a state of collapse. In order to meet this need for information, a Bottom
Mapping Work Group was formed in 1985 by the SEAMAP management committee.
The work group developed a plan for establishing a bottom-mapping database using
historical information obtained from surveys of the study area, and a study was
subsequently initiated to describe and characterize hard-bottom resources in the South
Atlantic Bight. . The initial segment of the study was conducted by scientists in South
Carolina and Georgia (Van Dolah et al., 1994), and the study was continued by scientists
in North Carolina (Moser et al., 1995). A total of 23,960 records with information on
location and type of bottom were compiled during the first two segments of the study.
The SEAMAP Bottom-Mapping Study was initiated by Florida in 1994.
The Florida study group has 1) expanded the list of hard-bottom-obligate fishes to
264 taxa, 2) developed a protocol for using specimen-collection-based information to
acquire evidence of bottom type, and 3) developed a protocol for incorporating areal
data into the database so that the area-data records are equivalent to those of the point
and line-segment records incorporated into the database during the first two segments of
the study. The Florida group has incorporated an additional 20,787 records from 37
sources with determinations of bottom type into the database. Of these records, 900 are
derived from 9 areal databases, primarily from surveys that used side-scan sonar, and an
additional secondary data table (Appendix 4) that summarizes those records has been
added to the database. Approximately 37% of the grid cells in the Florida study area
contain some data on bottom type, and the database now totals 44,747 records.
Atlantic states have determined that there is need for accurate information on the
location and extent of hard-bottom habitat, which is of importance to the maintenance of
reef-fish stocks. Reef fish have declined to such low levels that reproductive stocks are
often inadequate to maintain current populations, and some fisheries stocks may be
approaching a state of collapse. In order to meet this need for information, a Bottom
Mapping Work Group was formed in 1985 by the SEAMAP management committee.
The work group developed a plan for establishing a bottom-mapping database using
historical information obtained from surveys of the study area, and a study was
subsequently initiated to describe and characterize hard-bottom resources in the South
Atlantic Bight. . The initial segment of the study was conducted by scientists in South
Carolina and Georgia (Van Dolah et al., 1994), and the study was continued by scientists
in North Carolina (Moser et al., 1995). A total of 23,960 records with information on
location and type of bottom were compiled during the first two segments of the study.
The SEAMAP Bottom-Mapping Study was initiated by Florida in 1994.
The Florida study group has 1) expanded the list of hard-bottom-obligate fishes to
264 taxa, 2) developed a protocol for using specimen-collection-based information to
acquire evidence of bottom type, and 3) developed a protocol for incorporating areal
data into the database so that the area-data records are equivalent to those of the point
and line-segment records incorporated into the database during the first two segments of
the study. The Florida group has incorporated an additional 20,787 records from 37
sources with determinations of bottom type into the database. Of these records, 900 are
derived from 9 areal databases, primarily from surveys that used side-scan sonar, and an
additional secondary data table (Appendix 4) that summarizes those records has been
added to the database. Approximately 37% of the grid cells in the Florida study area
contain some data on bottom type, and the database now totals 44,747 records.
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