Creation of surficial substrate maps for determination of essential fish habitat of the California continental margin

In order to facilitate modeling efforts and determine essential habitats for commercially important groundfishes and invertebrates along the west coast of the contiguous United States, the Center for Habitat Studies was awarded a contract from NOAA during 2002. The primary objective of this work was to create a generalized surficial substrate (“habitat”) map of benthic regions for the entire EEZ off California. Based on a comprehensive synthesis of available seafloor data and imagery, a digital habitat map of this region was produced and combined with a similar map created for the offshore region of Oregon and Washington. The benthic habitat mapping scheme developed at the Center for Habitat Studies was used as the standard for this project. The resulting product represents the first comprehensive digital habitat map of the offshore U.S. west coast region and is a source of baseline information for the development of effective, habitat-based fisheries management plans.

 

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