Pilot Framework for Fish Habitat Assessments Across Tidal and Non-Tidal Waters in the Patuxent River Basin
This report presents methods for a pilot assessment of the condition of fish habitats in both the estuarine and inland portions of Chesapeake Bay rivers.
Description
In support of the 2014 Chesapeake Bay Watershed Agreement, the U.S. Geological Survey Eastern Ecological Science Center (USGS-EESC) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association’s National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science (NOAA-NCCOS) are actively developing datasets, methods and analyses to conduct fish habitat assessments in the Chesapeake Bay watershed, guided by recommendations from a regional stakeholder workshop held by the Chesapeake Bay Program Fish Habitat Action Team in 2018. The joint USGS and NOAA team has been collaborating on methods for conducting inland and estuarine assessments and exploring whether a seamless headwater to estuary assessment could be developed. The goals of this assessment are to benefit both state and federal fisheries managers, help advance fisheries science and provide beneficial information for the public. While past national and regional assessments (e.g., the National Fish Habitat Partnership National Assessment) treated inland and estuarine fish habitat conditions separately due to differences in environments, GIS data representation and data availability, a seamless habitat assessment could be of value for a broad range of stakeholders as many fish species, several of which are invasive or under federal jurisdiction, use habitats across both inland and estuarine waters. This project developed a pilot framework, explored and tested methods necessary for a finer scale, seamless assessment across both inland and estuarine waters, and demonstrated its use.
Category: Report