Inventory & Evaluation of Environmental and Biological Response Data for Fish Habitat Assessment

Description

The 2014 Chesapeake Bay Watershed Agreement identified a broad series of goals that, when implemented, would further the restoration and protection of the Chesapeake Bay watershed and its resources. One of the themes, Abundant Life, addressed the threats of overexploitation of species, fragmentation and loss of habitat, and the loss of a balanced ecosystem. To address these challenges, the Agreement developed outcomes that were directly aimed at several species or groups of species, including blue crabs, oysters, brook trout and forage fish. A related outcome that addressed multiple fish and shellfish species was to further assess habitat within the Bay watershed. Specifically, the Agreement stated: “Identifying and improving our understanding about important fish habitat will help target our conservation and restoration efforts.” To this end, the Sustainable Fisheries and Vital Habitat Goal Implementation Teams held a workshop in 2018 to identify factors influencing habitat function throughout the Chesapeake Bay watershed. Prior to the workshop, a team of U.S. Geological Survey and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration scientists compiled and inventoried relevant fish habitat stressor metadata for participants to consider. A recommendation from the workshop was to conduct a data mining exercise to fill data gaps in the inventory. USGS continued to inventory datasets from nontidal waters, and Tetra Tech began to inventory and acquire relevant biological fish habitat data from tidal waters in 2019. This report includes key findings and recommendations from the tidal fish habitat inventory.