New Mapping Tool Improves Resource Management with Unique Data Visualization
NOAA’s National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science and National Marine Fisheries Service have completed a collaborative project that has produced an ArcGIS extension for creating time-and-area summarized maps of fishing catch and effort from logbook, observer, or fishery-independent survey data sets. They have also identified four priority needs (fishing catch and effort analysis, area characterization, by-catch analysis, and fishery/habitat interactions), and propose a way forward for development of new GIS tools and capabilities. They have published the results in a report “EcoGIS: GIS Tools for Ecosystem Approaches to Fisheries Management.” A PDF version of the report, along with additional information, is available at http://ccma.nos.noaa.gov/publications/TechMemoNCCOS75.pdf or http://www.st.nmfs.noaa.gov/ecogis/. For more information, contact David Moe Nelson at (301) 713-3028 x154 or David.Moe.Nelson@noaa.gov, or Tim Haverland at (301) 713-2328 x210 or Tim.Haverland@noaa.gov. [04M00078] (CCMA)
Significance: The GIS tools and methods developed will enable fisheries scientists to analyze large data sets more efficiently and effectively.
