SPATIAL METHODS BEING DEVELOPED IN FLORIDA TO DETERMINE ESSENTIAL FISH HABITAT

Florida is developing a database and conducting modeling to identify a nd spatially delineate fish habitats. The Florida Estuarine Living Mar ine Resources System consists of a relational database that summarizes bibliographic information on the habitat requirements of fish and inv ertebrates important to fisheries. We are using Habitat Suitability In dex (HSI) modeling to estimate the geographic distributions of species by life stages. We use water-column and benthic habitat data from eac h estuary to create gridded environmental maps. Suitability indices of relative abundance across environmental gradients are derived from fi sheries independent monitoring data. A geographic information system ( GIS) is used to run the HSI model to produce predicted distribution ma ps. Observed and expected data from Tampa Bay and Charlotte Harbor are being used to test the reliability of the model. Suitability indices transferred from one estuary to another may provide a means to predict geographic distributions and abundance of species by life stages in e stuaries not being surveyed. These methods may be useful to fishery ma nagement councils seeking to determine essential fish habitat under th e Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act.