Mapping Benthic Habitat on the West Florida Shelf Using Multibeam Acoustics and Towed Underwater Video to Improve Fisheries Science and Management

Authors

Alexander Ilich, University of South Florida
Jennifer Brizzolara, The Naval Oceanographic Office
Sarah Grasty, University of South FloridaFollow
John Gray, The Naval Oceanographic Office
Matthew Hommeyer, University of South FloridaFollow
Chad Lembke, University of South FloridaFollow
Stanley Locker, University of South Florida
Alex Silverman, University of South FloridaFollow
Theodore Switzer, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission
Abigail Vivlamore, University of South Florida
Steven Murawski, University of South FloridaFollow

Document Type

Conference Proceeding

Publication Date

2020

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

https://doi.org/10.1002/essoar.10502303.1

Abstract

The West Florida Shelf (WFS) is an extremely important area for both commercial and recreational fisheries. However, the lack of habitat maps in this area makes planning fisheries independent monitoring surveys difficult, and hinders the ability to manage and monitor fish stocks and ecosystems over time. As of 2015, only 5% of the WFS had been mapped in high resolution using a multibeam echosounder with little effort expended to infer and verify habitat type. In 2015, The Continental Shelf Characterization, Assessment, and Mapping Project (C-SCAMP) began using a multibeam echosounder and towed underwater video to map benthic habitats and improve our understanding of fish-habitat relationships on the WFS. For this study, high resolution multibeam bathymetry and co-registered backscatter data were collected and processed. A portion of these areas were then “ground-truthed” using towed video transects to assess habitat type and identify fish. Habitat maps were created using a statistical classification model that predicts benthic habitat type based on the acoustic signature. Progress towards a unified habitat map of the West Florida Shelf will be presented including habitat interpretation of multibeam surfaces collected by other groups prior to this project, particularly focusing on those within Marine Protected Areas. Applications of the resultant habitat maps for fisheries management will be demonstrated and discussed.

Rights Information

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License

Was this content written or created while at USF?

Yes

Citation / Publisher Attribution

Earth and Space Science Open Archive

Scholar Commons Citation

Ilich, Alexander; Brizzolara, Jennifer; Grasty, Sarah; Gray, John; Hommeyer, Matthew; Lembke, Chad; Locker, Stanley; Silverman, Alex; Switzer, Theodore; Vivlamore, Abigail; and Murawski, Steven, "Mapping Benthic Habitat on the West Florida Shelf Using Multibeam Acoustics and Towed Underwater Video to Improve Fisheries Science and Management" (2020). Marine Science Faculty Publications. 2575.
https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/msc_facpub/2575