Environmental indicators in the national estuary and coastal fish habitat assessment

The NFHAP estuarine and coastal fish habitat assessment uses a national-scale spatial framework, linked with georeferenced environmental indicator datasets.  The spatial framework considers of four zones along the “summit-to-sea” continuum: 1. Coastal Watersheds, 2. Estuaries, 3. Nearshore Marine, and 4. Offshore Marine, and was built as a GIS layer from existing sources of geospatial information such as NOAA’s Coastal Assessment Framework. The spatial framework provides a means of organizing environmental indicator data sets pertaining to fish habitat.  Parameters include water quality and eutrophication, estuarine salinity zones, sediment quality and contaminants, benthic characterization, and condition of specific habitat types such as submerged aquatic vegetation, corals, tidal wetlands, and shellfish beds.  Indicator data sets which report results at a local scale (e.g. individual waterbodies) within a broad spatial scope (regional or National) were especially valuable, although data sets which were only available on a regional or local basis were also used and adapted to fit the spatial framework to the extent feasible.  Together, the coastal spatial framework and indicator database enable comparative analyses of fish habitat based on existing information, and provide a means to address the larger question of how fish populations respond to the underlying conditions measured by the indicators.