What Is Marine Habitat Mapping and Why Do Managers Need It?
| Book title | Marine Habitat Mapping Technology for Alaska |
|---|---|
| Year | 2008 |
| Article DOI | 10.4027/mhmta.2008.02 (about DOIs) |
| Pages | 13–27 |
| PDF link* | View full text in PDF format [1.8 MB] |
*This low-resolution PDF is optimized for viewing on screen. High-resolution chapters are available on CD only.
Abstract
The waters off Alaska's coast support abundant and nationally significant populations of fish and marine mammals, yet resource managers lack basic information about the marine habitats that support this bounty. Fishermen and geologists can tell us broadly about the types of seafloor found in various areas—mud, sand, rocky pinnacles, scattered gravel, etc.—but such information tends to be patchy at best, and just like terrestrial environments, the seafloor can vary dramatically over a small area. To make informed decisions about human activities that affect the oceans, managers need fairly high-resolution maps of the physical and biological features that constitute habitat for fish, crabs, whales, sea lions, and other marine life. Habitat maps are important not only for fishery managers, who decide where and when fish can be caught as well as the allowable gears and quantities of catch, but also for decision makers regarding oil and gas development, marine mining, and other activities that can affect habitats for the marine life humans value. Marine habitat mapping can be defined as the collection and synthesis of physical and biological data necessary to differentiate environmental features that are meaningful to marine organisms—the features that make a particular area suitable or preferable for basic life functions such as feeding, breeding, and avoiding predators. Habitat maps, coupled with biological surveys, help scientists learn which environments contribute most to the growth, reproduction, and survival of marine species. Managers can use such habitat maps to design protective measures for necessary habitats with greater certainty about societal benefits. Ultimately, habitat maps and knowledge of habitat requirements for desired species may lead fishery managers to understand how much production of a given species can be expected per unit of habitat. In short, habitat mapping is a key element for improving the sustainable management of Alaska's living marine resources. This presentation will highlight several examples of marine habitat mapping and their value to management decisions.
