OCS Study 

BOEM 2014-058

U.S. Department of the Interior 

Bureau of Ocean Energy Management 

Gulf of Mexico OCS Region

EcoSpatial Information Database: 

U.S. Atlantic Region
OCS Study 

BOEM 2014-058 

Published by 

U.S. Department of the Interior 

Bureau of Ocean Energy Management 

Gulf of Mexico OCS Region

New Orleans, LA 

May 2014

EcoSpatial Information Database: 

U.S. Atlantic Region

Authors 

Keld Madsen 

Beth Zimmer 

Brett Fritze 

Leslie Manzello 

Kristen Metzger 

Prepared under BOEM Contract 

M09PC00047 

by 

AMEC Environmental & Infrastructure, Inc. 

3800 Ezell Road 

Nashville, TN 38211 

iii

DISCLAIMER

This report was prepared under contract between the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management

(BOEM) and AMEC Environment & Infrastructure, Inc. This report has been technically 

reviewed by BOEM, and it has been approved for publication. Approval does not necessarily 

signify that the contents reflect the views and policies of BOEM, nor does mention of trade 

names or commercial products constitute endorsement or recommendation for use. 

REPORT AVAILABILITY

To download a PDF file of this Gulf of Mexico OCS Region report, go to the U.S. Department of 

the Interior, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Environmental Studies Program Information 

System website and search on OCS Study BOEM 2014-058. 

This report can be viewed at select Federal Depository Libraries. It can also be obtained from 

the National Technical Information Service; the contact information is below. 

U.S. Department of Commerce

National Technical Information Service

5301 Shawnee Rd. 

Springfield, Virginia 22312 

Phone: (703) 605-6000, 1(800)553-6847 

Fax: (703) 605-6900 

Website: http://www.ntis.gov/

CITATION

Madsen, K., B. Zimmer, B. Fritze, L. Manzello, and K. Metzger. 2014. Ecospatial information 

database: U.S. Atlantic Region. U.S. Dept. of the Interior, Bureau of Ocean Energy

Management, Gulf of Mexico OCS Region, New Orleans, Louisiana. OCS Study BOEM 

2014-058. 281 pp. 

ABOUT THE COVER

A photo mosaic including screenshots from the ESID application illustrating the Search by 

Content and Search by Location functionalities. Fish image from Comstock Images/Thinkstock. 

v 

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

We thank the many individuals, listed below, who contributed their time and expertise to make 

the design, development, and population of the ESID successful. We are grateful to BOEM for 

their invaluable institutional knowledge. In particular, we acknowledge James Sinclair and Dr. 

Rebecca Green, the BOEM Contracting Officer’s Technical Representatives, for their ongoing 

support and enthusiasm.

We thank the following libraries for their generous assistance with literature acquisition for this 

project: the library of the Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science at University of 

Miami; the library of Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution at Florida Atlantic University; 

member libraries of the International Association of Marine and Aquatic Sciences Libraries and 

Information Centers; and the Online Computer Library Center. 

We wish to express our gratitude to the following publishers for generously providing copyright 

exemptions for this project: Alaska Sea Grant, American Fisheries Society, American 

Ornithologists Union, Association of Southeast Biologists, Consortium for Ocean Leadership, 

Delaware Geological Survey, Elsevier, Maine Geological Survey, Mount Desert Biological 

Laboratory, National Academies Press, National Science Foundation, National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration, North Carolina Department of Natural Resources, Old City 

Publishing, Peabody Museum of Natural History, Yale University, Robert Duce, Rowman 

Littlefield Publishing Group, Scripps Institution of Oceanography Library, Sequoia Scientific, 

Smithsonian Institution Scholarly Press, Society for Industrial Microbiologists, Southeastern 

Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies, the Bailey Matthews Shell Museum, and Woods 

Hole Oceanographic Institute.

Project Personnel and Major Responsibilities

Keld Madsen AMEC 

Environment & 

Infrastructure, 

Inc. 

(AMEC)

Program Manager, Synthesis Report Co-author

Lonnie Hearne AMEC Interim Program Manager, Synthesis Report 

Contributor

Jeff Albee AMEC Quality Assurance Manager

Brett Fritze AMEC ESID Implementation Manager, Synthesis Report 

Co-author

Brian Bugg AMEC Interim Technical Project Manager

Laura Benneyworth AMEC Resource Data Collection Protocols

Jodi Lindsey AMEC Data Collection/Management, Synthesis Report 

Contributor
vi 

Project Personnel and Major Responsibilities (continued)

Daniel Hearn AMEC Web Application Developer/Cloud 

Implementation

Joshua Streufert AMEC Web Application Developer/Cloud 

Implementation

Clayton Wright AMEC Web Application Developer/Cloud 

Implementation

Inger Sarappo AMEC Geospatial Characterization 

Bimal Shah AMEC Desktop Prototype Development

Chris Innes AMEC Database Architecture 

Dr. Alan Hart CSA CSA Science Director

Dr. Neal Phillips CSA CSA Principal Investigator, Quality 

Assurance/Quality Control, Synthesis Report 

Contributor

William Sloger, Jr. CSA CSA Project Manager

Dr. Luis Lagera, Jr. CSA CSA Principal Investigator, Internal Science 

Review Team (ISRT) Lead Expert for Water 

Quality

Kristen Metzger CSA Project Librarian, Synthesis Report Co-author

David Snyder CSA ISRT Lead Expert for Demersal Fishes

Edward Hughes CSA ISRT Support Expert for Water Quality and 

Infauna/Meiofauna

David Spennacchio CSA Database Management

John Thompson CSA ISRT Lead Expert for Geology

Keith Spring CSA ISRT Lead Expert for Seafloor Features

Brian Balcom CSA ISRT Lead Expert for Infauna/Meiofauna

Doug Cribbs Esri® Environmental Systems Research Institute 

(Esri®) Project Manager

Eric Chiasson Esri® Database Designer

Adam Gelber Atkins Atkins Project Manager
vii 

Project Personnel and Major Responsibilities (continued)

Donald Deis Atkins Atkins Principal Investigator, ISRT Lead Expert 

for Seagrass, Protocol Formulation for Data 

Collection/Assessment 

Beth Zimmer Atkins Atkins Task Manager, Synthesis Report Coauthor, Protocol Formulation for Data 

Collection/Assessment, Website Searches, 

Information Exchange (Scientific/Technical 

Meetings)

Leslie Manzello Atkins Synthesis Report Co-author, Website Searches, 

Abstract Formulation, Technical Document 

Formatting

Ralph Montgomery Atkins ISRT Lead Expert for Water Quality

Kristin Jenkins Atkins ISRT Lead Expert for Pelagic Ecology

Stuart Strum Atkins ISRT Lead Expert for Geology

Cheryl W. Propst Atkins Website Searches, Abstract Formulation

Amy Dalton Atkins Website Searches, Abstract Formulation

Tamara Mayer Atkins Website Searches

Susan ColleyTheodosiou Atkins Website Searches

Amit Hazra Atkins Website Searches

Mark Henry Atkins Website Searches

Babu Krishnasamy GISbiz Data Extraction Task Manager

Srinivasan Karunakaran GISbiz Data Extraction Team Leader

Senthil Kumar GISbiz Data Extraction Quality Manager

ix

ABSTRACT

An EcoSpatial Information Database (ESID, “ee-sid”) has been created to make ecological data

for the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) of the U.S. Atlantic coast readily accessible through 

advanced geographic and content data search techniques. A web Geographic Information 

System (GIS) application, hosted in the Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2®; hereafter 

referred to as the cloud) was developed to provide broad access to the data and supporting 

documents. This report describes the processes used to search for, prioritize, and collect

literature and datasets, and the development of the geodatabase and web portal that allows the 

system to be searched.

The ESID was developed by a project team led by AMEC Environment & Infrastructure

(AMEC) and included contributors from Atkins (formerly PBS&J), CSA International, Inc.

(CSA), Esri®, and GISbiz Inc. The ESID will help BOEM meet requirements of the National 

Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) to support its leasing decisions. 

The ESID project area consists of Federal waters within BOEM’s Atlantic OCS Region, which

extends from Maine to central Florida (specifically, the North Atlantic, Mid-Atlantic, and South 

Atlantic Planning Areas). As specified by BOEM, the resources to be included in the literature 

and dataset searches were geology, water quality, pelagic ecology, and benthic ecology 

(including infauna/meiofauna, demersal fishes, coral and hardbottom communities, and 

seagrass). The project team conducted extensive searches of literature and datasets to 

incorporate into the ESID. The team developed a unique search protocol to identify and 

scientifically screen over 27,000 scientific papers and environmental reports, and approximately 

10,000 web links to identify scientific datasets. During the prioritization process, it was 

determined that 2,717 documents and 391 web links (a total of 3,101 resources, spanning years 

1884–2010) were relevant to the ESID. These resources were then geospatially referenced and 

included in the system. A rigorous Quality Assurance/Quality Control (QA/QC) program was 

implemented on all levels of the project to validate the process and the results.

The cloud-based ESID Web Application allows users to search by content and location, view 

citations and abstracts, export bibliographic entries, view and download documents that are not 

subject to copyright restrictions, print map views, identify mapped features, and upload 

additional resources (subject to system administrator approval). The system is designed to 

accommodate virtually unlimited expansion with any type of resource file on any subject for any 

geographic area. 

xi 

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page

LIST OF FIGURES .................................................................................................................................... xv

LIST OF TABLES....................................................................................................................................xvii

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS, ACRONYMS, AND SYMBOLS.............................................................xix

1.0 INTRODUCTION............................................................................................................................... 1

1.1 Background................................................................................................................................. 1

1.2 Project Objective......................................................................................................................... 2

1.2.1 Expected Project Outputs............................................................................................. 2

1.2.2 Project Area and Areas of Interest ............................................................................... 2

1.3 Team Participants........................................................................................................................ 4

2.0 Required System Elements ................................................................................................................. 7

3.0 Approach to Work............................................................................................................................. 11

3.1 Resource Collection .................................................................................................................. 11

3.1.1 Protocol ...................................................................................................................... 11

3.1.2 Resource Categories................................................................................................... 13

3.1.3 Formation of the Internal Science Review Team....................................................... 14

3.1.4 Obtaining Relevant Information................................................................................. 15

3.1.5 Prioritization – Relevance Matrices........................................................................... 15

3.1.6 Bibliographic Database (RefWorks®) ....................................................................... 16

3.1.7 Quality Assurance/Quality Control............................................................................ 17

3.2 User Story and Business Requirements.................................................................................... 17

3.3 System Design .......................................................................................................................... 18

3.4 ArcMarine Data Model ............................................................................................................. 21

3.5 User Interface............................................................................................................................ 21

3.6 Document Word Search Design Implementation ..................................................................... 22

4.0 Resource Collection .......................................................................................................................... 23

4.1 Literature Search....................................................................................................................... 23

4.1.1 Development of Keywords, Literature....................................................................... 23

4.1.2 Literature Search Details............................................................................................ 23

4.1.2.1 Dialog® Searches....................................................................................... 23

4.1.2.2 WorldcatTM Searches................................................................................. 25

4.1.2.3 Aquatic Commons Searches ..................................................................... 27

4.1.2.4 Targeted Internet Searches........................................................................ 27

4.1.3 Prioritization of Literature.......................................................................................... 27

4.1.3.1 Prioritization of Literature Titles .............................................................. 27

4.1.3.2 Prioritization of Literature Citations/Abstracts.........................................27

4.1.3.3 Priority Rankings ...................................................................................... 29

4.1.4 Acquisition of Literature ............................................................................................ 37

4.2 Dataset Search........................................................................................................................... 38

4.2.1 Website List and Prioritization................................................................................... 38

4.2.2 Website Search Strategy............................................................................................. 38

4.2.3 Website Written Protocol and Tracking Spreadsheet................................................. 40
xii 

4.2.4 Prioritization of Resulting Datasets............................................................................ 41

4.2.5 Acquisition of Datasets .............................................................................................. 44

4.3 Acquisition Documentation ...................................................................................................... 44

4.4 Copyright Permissions.............................................................................................................. 44

5.0 Resource Processing.......................................................................................................................... 47

5.1 Resource Annotation................................................................................................................. 47

5.2 Geographic Characterization..................................................................................................... 49

5.3 Bibliography ............................................................................................................................. 50

5.4 Data Extraction ......................................................................................................................... 50

6.0 Quality Assurance and Quality Control ............................................................................................ 53

6.1 Objectives ................................................................................................................................. 53

6.2 Resource Identification ............................................................................................................. 53

6.3 Resource Prioritization.............................................................................................................. 53

6.3.1 Prioritization of Literature Titles................................................................................ 53

6.3.2 Prioritization of Citations and Abstracts.................................................................... 53

6.3.3 Prioritization of Datasets............................................................................................ 54

6.4 Resource Acquisition ................................................................................................................ 55

7.0 Geodatabase Design .......................................................................................................................... 57

7.1 RefWorks® ............................................................................................................................... 57

7.2 Resource Documents................................................................................................................. 59

7.3 Geographic Characterization..................................................................................................... 59

7.4 ArcMarine ................................................................................................................................. 61

7.5 Word Search Capabilities.......................................................................................................... 67

8.0 User Interface .................................................................................................................................... 69

8.1 Desktop Application ................................................................................................................. 69

8.1.1 ESID Extension Toolbar ............................................................................................ 70

8.1.1.1 Search Functions....................................................................................... 70

8.1.1.2 Search Results........................................................................................... 72

8.1.1.3 Import Data Function ................................................................................ 76

8.1.1.4 Help Button............................................................................................... 76

8.1.2 Esri® ArcGIS Map Document ................................................................................... 77

8.2 ESID Web Application ............................................................................................................. 78

8.2.1 ESID Web Application Components ........................................................................ 78

8.2.2 ESID Web Application Functions.............................................................................. 80

8.2.2.1 Home Page ................................................................................................ 80

8.2.2.2 ESID Web Map Interface.......................................................................... 82

8.2.3 ESID System Functionality (Widgets)....................................................................... 83

8.2.3.1 Map Layers ............................................................................................... 84

8.2.3.2 Search by Content ..................................................................................... 84

8.2.3.3 Search by Location.................................................................................... 90

8.2.3.4 Print Map Display ..................................................................................... 93

8.2.3.5 Identify Features ....................................................................................... 93

8.2.3.6 Upload Resources ..................................................................................... 94

8.2.3.7 Publish/Manage Resources ....................................................................... 96

8.2.3.8 Manage Users............................................................................................ 98

8.2.4 Help Documentation................................................................................................... 98
xiii

9.0 Cloud Computing........................................................................................................................... 101

9.1 Need for Cloud Architecture................................................................................................... 101

9.2 Design Changes for Cloud Deployment ................................................................................. 101

9.3 ESID Components in the Amazon Cloud ............................................................................... 102

9.4 Maintenance Period ................................................................................................................ 103

9.4.1 Workflow ................................................................................................................. 103

9.4.2 Review Process ........................................................................................................ 103

9.4.3 Publishing Resources ............................................................................................... 104

10.0 Publications and Peer Review......................................................................................................... 107

11.0 Conclusions and Recommendations................................................................................................ 109

11.1 Database and Metadata Issues................................................................................................. 109

11.2 Copyright Issues...................................................................................................................... 109

11.3 Level of Effort Required for Bibliographic Search................................................................. 110

11.4 Data Extraction Issues............................................................................................................. 111

11.5 Client User Involvement ......................................................................................................... 111

12.0 Literature Cited ............................................................................................................................... 113

Appendix A User Story and Business Requirements ............................................................................ 115

Appendix B Guidelines for Preparing Keywords.................................................................................. 125

Appendix C Dialog Databases............................................................................................................... 129

Appendix D Literature Search Statements............................................................................................. 135

Appendix E WorldCatTM and Aquatic Commons Search Page Screen Captures..................................145

Appendix F Example of Inter-library Loan Request Form................................................................... 151

Appendix G Example of Inter-library Loan Invoice.............................................................................. 157

Appendix H Example of Dataset Search Tracking Spreadsheet............................................................ 161

Appendix I Dataset Search Written Protocols...................................................................................... 169

Appendix J Example of Inter-library Loan Receipt ............................................................................. 207

Appendix K Example of Copyright Permission Letter.......................................................................... 211

Appendix L Preliminary Data List ........................................................................................................ 215

Appendix M Geographic Characterization Protocol .............................................................................. 227

xv 

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1. BOEM Atlantic Planning Areas (BOEM 2012). ..................................................................... 3

Figure 2. Map showing the ESID project area, and the Areas of Interest, which are potential 

lease areas described in BOEM’s 5-year leasing plan............................................................. 4

Figure 3. ESID project protocol. ........................................................................................................... 12

Figure 4. Resource data collection steps. .............................................................................................. 13

Figure 5. An example of the user stories, as contained in the ESID User Story and Business 

Requirements document. ....................................................................................................... 18

Figure 6. Original ESID design............................................................................................................. 19

Figure 7. ESID cloud system concept. .................................................................................................. 20

Figure 8. Word search process. ............................................................................................................. 22

Figure 9. Screenshot from the RefWorks® website showing the bibliographic data for a 

relevant document.................................................................................................................. 57

Figure 10. An example of the RefWorks® XML format output viewed in Microsoft® Excel®. .......... 58

Figure 11. Screenshot of a data form from the Geographic Characterization Microsoft® Access® 

database.................................................................................................................................. 60

Figure 12. Feature datasets, tables, and relationship classes within the ArcMarine data model............. 62

Figure 13. The FeatureArea feature class within the MarineFeatures feature dataset ............................ 63

Figure 14. Geographic view of the FeatureArea layer, including the digitized resource 

boundaries.............................................................................................................................. 64

Figure 15. Added Tables location viewed in ArcCatalog, showing the location of the Resource 

Table. ..................................................................................................................................... 67

Figure 16. ESID desktop application showing file geodatabase, ArcMap® document, ESID 

extension, and Resources folder. ........................................................................................... 70

Figure 17. ESID Extension Toolbar........................................................................................................ 70

Figure 18. The Search Text function of the ESID desktop application................................................... 71

Figure 19. The Select by Radius function of the..................................................................................... 71

Figure 20. The Select by Feature function of the ESID desktop application.......................................... 72

Figure 21. Example of the Search Results Tab displaying the list of matching or intersecting 

resources. ............................................................................................................................... 73

Figure 22. List of data fields for selected resource in the ....................................................................... 73

Figure 23. Example of Attachments Tab showing a list of files related to a .......................................... 74

Figure 24. Conceptual example of the Spatial Data Tab showing spatial data. ...................................... 75

Figure 25. Example of Export Data Tab. ................................................................................................ 76

Figure 26. Import Data Form on the ESID Extension Toolbar............................................................... 76

Figure 27. The Esri® ArcGIS map document showing results of text-based searches and spatial 

boundaries of those search results. ........................................................................................ 77
xvi 

Figure 28. ESID desktop application spatial selection option................................................................. 78

Figure 29. Components of the ESID Web Application........................................................................... 80

Figure 30. ESID Web Application Home Page showing the Public User Login.................................... 81

Figure 31. ESID Web Map Interface showing standard panning and zooming map controls 

(upper left), Base Map controls (upper right), Scale Bar (lower left), and the 

Coordinates Bar (lower middle). ........................................................................................... 83

Figure 32. The seven widget icons (shown left to right): “Map Layers,” “Search by Content,” 

“Search by Location,” “Print Map Display,” “Identify,” and “Upload Resources................ 83

Figure 33. MMC data layers available using the .................................................................................... 84

Figure 34. The Search by Content window accessed via the Search by ................................................. 85

Figure 35. The Search Results window accessed through the Search by Content Widget. .................... 86

Figure 36. The “Zoom to Selected” button available in the Search Results window. ............................ 87

Figure 37. Details View Form accessed through the .............................................................................. 88

Figure 38. Example Microsoft® Excel® report generated using the...................................................... 89

Figure 39. Example Reference Manager® report generated using the ................................................... 89

Figure 40. Basic Search Tab window in the Search by Location widget................................................ 90

Figure 41. Search by Coordinates in the Search by Location widget. .................................................... 91

Figure 42. The Search by Lease Block tab in the Search by Location widget........................................ 92

Figure 43. The Search by Shapefile tab in the Search by Location widget............................................. 92

Figure 44. The Print Map Display window accessed using .................................................................... 93

Figure 45. Identify Search Results window accessed using the Identify Features widget and the 

separate callout window for specific feature information...................................................... 94

Figure 46. The Upload Resources window, showing resources that have been...................................... 95

Figure 47. New Resource bibliographic data entry and upload form. .................................................... 96

Figure 48. New resource submittal and approval process....................................................................... 97

Figure 49. The Users widget. .................................................................................................................. 98

Figure 50. Example of Help Documentation for Search Results window. ............................................. 99

Figure 51. Search by Location Tool Tip ................................................................................................. 99

Figure 52. ESID Cloud Configuration. ................................................................................................. 102

Figure 53. ESID Spatial Resource Boundary Publishing Process......................................................... 105
xvii 

LIST OF TABLES

Table 1. Software used to develop the ESID. ............................................................................ 9

Table 2. ESID Internal Science Review Team (ISRT). ........................................................... 15

Table 3. Number of titles identified and citations downloaded from the Dialog® and 

WorldcatTM databanks. .............................................................................................. 25

Table 4. Representative WorldcatTM search record. ................................................................ 25

Table 5. Relevance matrix for evaluating resource abstracts. ................................................. 31

Table 6. List of the 34 websites searched for data relevant to the ESID. ................................ 39

Table 7. Prioritization of datasets identified during the website searches. ............................. 42

Table 8. All fields included in the Resource Table within the Microsoft® Access® 

database. .................................................................................................................... 48

Table 9. Total number of resources in the Final Data List by category. ................................. 49

Table 10. Distribution summary table presenting the number of resources within each 

distribution category. ................................................................................................. 49

Table 11. The RefWorks field name codes and associated alias field names. .......................... 59

Table 12. Fields in the GeoExtentTracking table. ..................................................................... 61

Table 13. The attributes contained within the FeatureArea layer. ............................................ 64

Table 14. The fields included in the Resource Table. ............................................................... 65

xix 

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS, ACRONYMS, AND SYMBOLS

AMEC AMEC Environment & Infrastructure

AMI Amazon Machine Image

AOB Acquisition Operations Branch

AOI Areas of Interest

AWS Amazon Web Services

BOEM Bureau of Ocean Energy Management

BOEM Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement

BSEE Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement

CORIS Coastal and Offshore Resource Information System

COTR Contracting Officer’s Technical Representative

CSA CSA International, Inc.

DOI Digital Object Identifier

EA Environmental Assessment

EBS Elastic Block Storage

EDMS Electronic Documents Management System

EEZ Exclusive Economic Zone

EFH Essential Fish Habitat

EIS Environmental Impact Statement

ERA Electronic Redistribution and Archiving 

ESB Environmental Studies Branch

ESID EcoSpatial Information Database

ESPIS Environmental Studies Program Information System

Esri® Environmental Systems Research Institute 

FGDC Federal Geographic Data Committee

FIU Florida International University

FTP File Transfer Protocol 

GIS Geographic Information System

HBOI Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution 

ISRT Internal Science Review Team

IT Information Technology

ITM Information Transfer Meeting

GLORIA Geological Long-Range Inclined Asdic 

GOMR Gulf of Mexico Region

LIDAR Light Detection and Ranging 

MMC Multipurpose Marine Cadastre

MMS Minerals Management Service

MRIB Marine Realms Information Bank

MXD Map Exchange Document

NCCOS National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science

NEPA National Environmental Policy Act

NOAA National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

NODC National Oceanographic Data Center

NURC-NAGL National Undersea Research Center North Atlantic and Great Lakes
xx 

NOS National Ocean Service

OCLCTM Online Computer Library Center 

OCR Optical Character Recognition

OCS Outer Continental Shelf

OPAC Online Public Access Catalog

PDF Portable Document Format

QA/QC Quality assurance/Quality control

RD Remove duplicates

RDP Remote Desktop Protocol

RFP Request for proposal

RSMAS Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science 

SDE Spatial Database Engine

SDK Software Development Kit

SRC Scientific Review Committee

UML Unified Modeling Language

USDOI U.S. Department of the Interior

USGS U.S. Geological Survey

XML Extensible Markup Language
1 

1.0 INTRODUCTION

1.1 BACKGROUND

On October 1, 2011, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement 

(BOEMRE), formerly known as the Minerals Management Service (MMS), was reorganized into

the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) and the Bureau of Safety and Environmental 

Enforcement (BSEE). BOEM is responsible for overseeing the safe and environmentally 

responsible development of energy and mineral resources on the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS)

of the United States. BOEM leases and manages the offshore bottomlands within Federal 

waters, i.e., from the boundary of State waters offshore to the limits of the Exclusive Economic 

Zone (EEZ), for mineral and energy development. BOEM’s jurisdiction is divided into four 

OCS Regions: Alaska, Pacific, Gulf of Mexico, and Atlantic. BOEM’s responsibilities have 

existed against a backdrop of presidential withdrawals and Congressional moratoria that 

previously prohibited leasing within certain offshore areas. These moratoria began in 1982 when 

Congress imposed a moratorium on oil and gas leasing for offshore California. Over the next 26 

years, the moratorium was extended to include OCS acreage off the U.S. Atlantic and Pacific 

coasts. In July 2008, President Bush lifted the withdrawals on oil and gas leases enacted by 

previous presidents. In October 2008, the 26-year old Congressional moratorium on oil and gas 

leasing on the OCS was allowed to expire. (Withdrawals and moratoria were re-instituted after 

the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.)

More recently, wide interest has developed in renewable energy leasing on the OCS, including 

along the U.S. Atlantic coast. The Energy Policy Act of 2005 charges BOEM with leasing the 

OCS bottomlands for the development of alternative energy and other uses. The April 2009 

Renewable Energy and Alternate Uses of Existing Facilities on the Outer Continental Shelf; 

Final Rule (30 CFR Parts 250, 285, and 290) established a BOEM program to grant leases for 

renewable energy development activities, such as the siting and construction of offshore wind 

farms on the OCS, and other forms of renewable energy (e.g., wave, current, and solar energy). 

With the issuance of the Final Renewable Energy Framework, updated in October 2011 to reflect 

bureau reorganization, the BOEM became responsible for ensuring that the appropriate 

environmental studies were performed in support of renewable energy activities on the Atlantic 

OCS. Since then, proposed wind energy projects and state activities have increased the BOEM’s 

need for current, comprehensive environmental data in the Atlantic OCS areas (BOEM 2012). 

Proper execution of BOEM’s responsibilities requires that environmental and scientific data is 

readily accessible to BOEM scientists to use in preparing Environmental Assessments (EA) and 

Environmental Impact Statements (EIS) in support of leasing decisions. BOEM was aware that a 

sizeable body of environmental and ecological study data pertaining to these offshore areas had 

been conducted during the various moratoria. However, information about the existence of these 

studies, the study locations and methodologies used, and the data from these studies were

difficult to access because there was no integrated database housing the information. BOEM

recognized a need to identify and collect this environmental and ecological research information 

to use in the environmental studies required to meet the requirements of the National 

Environmental Policy Act. BOEM decided to collect these data into a database that could be 

readily accessed using a geographically-referenced mapping system based on commercial GIS 
2 

software. In late July 2009, BOEM released a request for proposal (RFP) for an ESID that 

would assimilate the research documentation and resources into a mapping application with a

user interface for accessing this data to support BOEM in leasing decisions. 

1.2 PROJECT OBJECTIVE

1.2.1 Expected Project Outputs

The purpose of the ESID is to support ecosystem-based management decisions for three of 

BOEM’s Atlantic planning areas (North Atlantic, Mid-Atlantic, and South Atlantic – see Figure 

1). The ESID project was to conduct a comprehensive bibliographic search and assimilate data 

about specifically identified scientific topics for the Atlantic OCS. These relevant documents 

and datasets would then be managed and stored in a robust, geospatial database that could be 

accessed by geographical and textual or contextual data search techniques using a GIS map 

interface. Together, the geodatabase and map interface would offer a decision support system to 

assist BOEM meet the requirements of NEPA in its leasing decisions. 

The project was expected to provide three distinct, technical outputs that were to be 

accomplished through the execution of contract-defined tasks. These technical outputs were:

1. Assimilation of ecological data relevant to the three BOEM Atlantic Planning Areas, 

together with the scientific analysis required to determine what data would be applicable 

to the program objectives. 

2. Design and implementation of a database architecture capable of storing the assimilated 

ecological resource data, and also providing user-friendly access to the data using both 

geospatial and word search methods. This technical element included populating the 

database with properly formatted data and creating useful applications that would allow 

the data to be fully used for the BOEM tasks. 

3. Properly documenting the project results, allowing for peer review of the project data, and 

providing for broad dissemination of project history and results.

1.2.2 Project Area and Areas of Interest

BOEM’s Atlantic OCS Region is divided into four Planning Areas: North Atlantic, MidAtlantic, South Atlantic, and the Straits of Florida (Figure 1). These planning areas include the 

submerged lands, subsoil, and seabed lying between the seaward jurisdiction of each coastal state 

(3 nautical miles/~3.3 statute miles) and the seaward extent of Federal jurisdiction. The North 

Atlantic Planning Area lies adjacent to the Atlantic coastal states of Maine, New Hampshire, 

Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, and New Jersey. The Mid-Atlantic 

Planning Area lies adjacent to Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, and North Carolina. The South 

Atlantic Planning Area lies adjacent to South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida. The Straits of 

Florida Planning Area lies adjacent to the southern half of the Florida peninsula. Figure 2 shows 

the locations and boundaries of the ESID project area.
3 

Figure 1. BOEM Atlantic Planning Areas (BOEM 2012).
4 

Figure 2. Map showing the ESID project area, and the Areas of Interest, which are potential lease 

areas described in BOEM’s 5-year leasing plan. 

The bibliographic search was constrained to the three BOEM Atlantic Planning Areas shown in 

Figure 2. The project requirements also included the extraction of additional information from 

those bibliographic resources that overlapped, or were contiguous with, “Areas of Interest” 

(AOI). The AOI are potential lease areas that were described in the draft 5-year (2010-2015) 

leasing plan (USDOI, MMS, 2009) and are shown in Figure 2.

1.3 TEAM PARTICIPANTS

The project was managed by the BOEM Gulf of Mexico Region (GOMR) and was funded by the 

Environmental Studies Branch (ESB) of BOEM in Herndon, Virginia. The contract team was 

led by AMEC out of their Nashville, Tennessee office.

• BOEM (GOMR) – Mr. James Sinclair and Dr. Rebecca Green

• BOEM (ESB) – Dr. Michael Rasser

• BOEM (Acquisition Operations Branch (AOB)) – Ms. Lisa A. Algarin 
5 

• AMEC – AMEC had overall responsibility for executing the ESID contract. Also, 

AMEC developed the database architecture and mapping and search application that was 

instantiated into the web user interface. A major part of AMEC’s effort was determining 

the geographic area that each study resource addressed and creating GIS descriptions of 

these locations so that they could be located using a map interface.

o Program Manager – Keld Madsen

o Interim Program Manager – Lonnie Hearne

o Quality Assurance Manager – Jeff Albee

o ESID Implementation Manager – Brett Fritze

o Interim Technical Project Manager – Brian Bugg 

o Data Collection/Management – Laura Benneyworth 

o Data Collection/Management – Jodi Lindsey 

• Atkins (formerly PBS&J) – Atkins provided marine science expertise and had a key role 

in developing the scientific protocol for data and document collection and assessment. 

They also conducted a search for GIS datasets within the three Atlantic Planning Areas, 

formulated abstracts for ESID resources, assisted in developing the synthesis report, and 

co-presented at scientific and technical meetings.

o Project Manager – Adam Gelber 

o Principal Investigator – Don Deis

o Task Manager, Synthesis Report Preparation – Beth Zimmer

o Technical Document Formatting – Leslie Manzello

o Internal Science Review Team (ISRT) Members – Stuart Strum (Geology), Ralph 

Montgomery (Water Quality), Kristen Jenkins (Pelagic Ecology and Demersal 

Fishes), Don Deis (Seagrass)

• CSA – The bibliographic search was led by CSA of Stuart, Florida. CSA provided 

subject matter expertise for marine science disciplines and quality assurance oversight for 

the resource data collection. 

o Project Manager – Will Sloger

o Project Librarian – Kristen Metzger

o Quality Assurance/Process Oversight – Dr. Neal Phillips

o ISRT Members – John Thompson (Geology), Luis Lagera (Water Quality), Dave 

Snyder (Pelagic Ecology and Demersal Fishes), Keith Spring (Seafloor Features, 

Coral, Hardbottom), Brian Balcom (Infauna/Meiofauna), Edward Hughes (Water 

Quality and Infauna/Meiofauna) 

• Esri® – Esri® provided subject matter expertise in database design and implementation 

of the ArcMarine Database.

o Project Manager – Doug Cribbs 

o Database Architecture – Eric Chiasson

• GISbiz Inc. – GISbiz Inc. of Nashville, Tennessee performed the data extraction tasks for 

the project.

o Task Manager – Babu Krishnasamy 

o Team Leader – Srinivasin Karanukaran

o Quality Manager – Senthil Kumar

7 

2.0 REQUIRED SYSTEM ELEMENTS

The first requirement of the project was to conduct a bibliographic search of the scientific 

literature about the Atlantic Planning Areas and identify relevant ecological resources. The 

search was based on resource categories provided by BOEM. The identified resources were 

identified, acquired, and converted into a searchable format to be included in the database. As 

part of the database creation effort, an annotated bibliography was created to: 

• Provide a full reference, for each source, that would allow access to the document itself 

or to a Microsoft® Access® portal for getting the source from its copyright owner; 

• Include in each annotation a description of the results and any other pertinent information 

(e.g., new species, part of a time series, cooperative venture resulting in related studies, 

etc.); and 

• Include geographic area, subjects addressed, methods/analyses, time span, seasonality, 

etc., either described directly in tabular fields or included in keyword or abstract fields, 

serving as search criteria to query the ESID.

The original contract scope called for the development of an ESID user interface using Esri® 

ArcMap®, which is a single user desktop application. Subsequently, it was determined that a 

desktop application would limit system utility because the amount of data required to be 

transferred from servers in New Orleans, Louisiana would significantly slow the system 

performance. Based on coordination with BOEM staff, it was determined that a web-based 

application could meet the requisite system performance requirements. A subsequent contract 

modification changed the system design specification to require that the system be web-based, 

using an enterprise geodatabase that would be accessed using a web-based map interface in 

Esri® ArcGIS Server® 10. A significant design goal for the ESID was to eventually provide 

public access capability. To provide this broad system access, a decision was made to host the 

ESID using a cloud system. Cloud computing refers to using software and computer 

infrastructure that is supplied over the Internet. In the case of the cloud-based ESID, software,

computer storage, and processing were to be provided on the Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud® 

(EC2®) cloud system and accessed with a browser application developed using Adobe® Flex®. 

Adobe® Flex® is a software development kit (SDK) for the development and deployment of 

cross-platform rich internet applications based on the Adobe® Flash® platform. Table 1 lists the 

software used to develop the ESID. 

System functionality would include the following. 

• Provide access to all relevant ecological data by clicking on the applicable feature in the 

map interface. 

• Provide public access to the ESID with restricted access to any copyright protected 

resources. 

• Provide a geographic search capability (i.e., the user can select an area or a polygon to 

return all data associated with the area selected). 

• Provide a textual search capability based on pre-defined and/or user-specified queries 

using keywords related to specific areas of scientific inquiry. 
8 

• Use existing base map services, which are already maintained by BOEM, to enhance the 

web application base map and to represent ecological data. 

• Generate reports of bibliographic information associated with selected geographic areas 

with the option to choose fields. 

• Provide the ability to search and browse the database tables directly. 

• Provide instructions for using the ESID user interface, including a user’s guide and help 

pages, and any other relevant documentation. 

• Adhere to BOEM security standards.

Additional project requirements included the following. 

• Develop a database able to accommodate “virtually unlimited growth” and address a very 

broad range of potential ecological and environmental data types. Although a relatively 

simple database structure would have sufficed for the initial ESID requirements, the 

growth requirement, together with the word and data search requirements, dictated that 

the database architecture needed to be designed to enable long-term sustainability for the 

system. 

• Extract data tables from resource documents within or near the AOIs. The data tables 

were extracted into a Microsoft® Excel® format, stored in the ESID folder structure, and 

made accessible through the ESID application. 

• Develop the ESID to complement ongoing agency efforts by providing compatible data 

for existing delivery systems, such as the Multipurpose Marine Cadastre (MMC) system

under development by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)

and BOEM. 

• Develop Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC) compatible metadata.

• Create polygons enclosing the geographic area or point location for all studies included in 

the ESID. Geographic coordinates could be used as search criteria to query the ESID. 

• Use an Esri® Unified Modeling Language (UML) Data Modeling Diagram to map the 

data relationships within the database.

• Develop a formal quality management program to ensure the reproduction accuracy of 

the sources used. Formal training was recommended for the ISRT and other relevant

personnel to promote that data was transferred with high fidelity. The ESID and its web 

interface were tested thoroughly to ensure proper operation and usability. 

• Document the ESID in at least one peer-reviewed journal article and one professional 

scientific meeting to communicate results of the study.

• Review of the final report by three qualified reviewers outside of BOEM who would 

serve as a Scientific Review Committee (SRC).
9 

Table 1. 

Software used to develop the ESID.

Software Version Description

RefWorks® 1.0 Collect bibliographic data from libraries

Filezilla 3.5.3 Transfer files between offices and cloud servers

CVista® 

PDFCompressor 4 

Automated Optical Character Recognition (OCR) 

software

Adobe® Acrobat® 9 

Individual Optical Character Recognition (OCR) 

software

ABBYY® Fine 

Reader®

10 

Professional Data table extraction from PDF documents 

Irfanview 3 Extracting maps from studies for digitization

Microsoft® Access® 2003

Internal review process tracking and data 

storage/management

Microsoft® Word 2007 Creating abstracts and project documentation

Microsoft® Excel® 2007 Quality control of data tables

Microsoft® Visio® 2007 Creating graphics for project documentation

Esri® ArcMap® 9.3 Digitizing resource boundaries and managing GIS data

Esri® ArcGIS Server® 10 Serving GIS data to the ESID web interface

Microsoft® Visual 

Studio®

2010 

Professional Develop the ESID web application

Adobe® Flash Builder® 4.0

Software development environment for Flex® 

framework 

pgAdmin 1.12.3

PostgreSQL database management software for 

bibliographic database

Amazon Web Services Not applicable Host the ESID web application, database, and services.

Windows® Server® 2008 R2 Operating system for cloud servers

Internet Information 

Services 7 Serving the ESID web application

Microsoft® Internet 

Explorer® 8 

Viewing the ESID web application and searching for 

publisher information

Reference Manager® 12 Storage of bibliographic exports 

ApacheTM Subversion® 1.7.9 Code repository for application development
10 

Table 1 (continued). Software used to develop the ESID 

Software Version Description

Microsoft® 

PowerPoint® 2007 Presentation development

Microsoft® Project® 2007 Project schedule management

Microsoft® 

Sharepoint® 2007

Document and schedule coordination with remote 

teams
11 

3.0 APPROACH TO WORK

Based on the magnitude of the project and the number of people involved in its creation, 

developing a strategic and thorough project protocol was of the utmost importance to the success 

of the ESID. A science-based and step-wise approach was used to construct the protocol, which 

was developed by a project team that included a professional librarian, scientists, software 

developers, and database experts. The ESID protocol is comprehensive and addresses all 

elements of the project, including: 1) Data collection and documentation, identification and 

evaluation of resources; 2) Geospatial evaluation and documentation, geographic 

characterization of the collected resources; and 3) Database development, design and 

implementation of the geospatial database and associated applications (Figure 3). The ESID 

protocol defined a logical, documented approach to ensure that all ESID team members were 

implementing identical assumptions and processes while conducting their respective tasks.

Because of the complexity and extensive nature of the project, a rigorous QA/QC program was 

implemented on all levels to validate the process and the results. The primary goals of the 

QA/QC program were to ensure that the end product performed in a fully satisfactory manner for 

all users and that the database was populated with geospatially-referenced resources and 

structured in a way that was readily accessible. The two primary components of the QA/QC 

program were the development of specific methods for completing project tasks coupled with 

regular intermediate and final product reviews by a dedicated QA/QC program manager. 

Communication was the key of the QA/QC program, to be sure that a feedback loop existed to 

support review, information dissemination, acceptance, and revision. 

3.1 RESOURCE COLLECTION

The resource data collection task consisted of seven steps, shown in Figure 4. These steps follow 

a specific repeatable process, and begin with defining the processes for team members to follow, 

assembling the team and identifying potential resources, acquiring the bibliographic data, and 

thorough quality control. 

3.1.1 Protocol

The first task of the project was to develop a protocol for how to proceed with the resource data 

collection. The protocol was to be a logical, documented approach to ensure that all team 

members were aligned and using the same assumptions and processes in carrying out their 

respective tasks. This protocol was expanded to show the entire process from bibliographic 

research to incorporating the resources into the ESID database. The protocol and all 

intermediate protocol products were archived on a Microsoft® SharePoint® web site accessible 

by all team members.
12 

Figure 3. ESID project protocol. 
13 

Figure 4. Resource data collection steps.

3.1.2 Resource Categories

Before initiating the search for relevant ESID resources, it was necessary to define the type of 

information to be included in the ESID. This was accomplished by defining the topics to be 

addressed in the ESID and the topics to be excluded. The ESID topics of interest, referred to as 

“Resource Categories,” were the foundation of the resource data collection task. The Resource 

Categories were determined based on collaboration with BOEM staff and were directly related to 

information required for BOEM’s NEPA process. The Resource Categories, for which literature 

and dataset searches were performed, consisted of the following topics: 

• Geology 

• Water quality

• Pelagic ecology

• Benthic ecology (four sub-categories)

o Infauna/meiofauna 

o Demersal fishes

o Coral and hardbottom communities 

o Seagrass

For the most efficient use of resources, it was also necessary to define topics that should be 

excluded from the ESID, based on input from BOEM staff. While the ESID is capable of 

housing comprehensive information, many relevant topics were excluded because of a 

reasonable limitation of funding. The expectation is that additional topics and information 

resources should be added in the future. The following topics were specifically excluded:

• Physical oceanography (currents, waves, tides, hydrography, etc.) 

• Chemical oceanography other than contaminants (e.g., nutrients) 

• Socioeconomic and cultural resource topics typically found in an EIS: 

o Commercial and recreational fisheries

o Essential fish habitat (EFH) 
14 

o Ocean disposal sites and activities

o Marine sanctuaries

o Military use

o Marine transportation (shipping, boating) 

o Archaeological resources (shipwrecks, submerged prehistoric resources)

o Artificial reefs

o Cables and pipelines

o Mineral resources (e.g., sand source areas) 

o Deepwater LNG ports

o Alternative energy leasing/activities

• Coastal habitats, features, and ecology

• Bats and insects (e.g., migrating over water) 

• Electromagnetic fields (EMFs) 

• Marine mammals, sea turtles, migratory birds

At the request of BOEM staff, the ESID was limited to resources with ecological data and 

information. This was specifically addressed during the keyword development (Section 4.1.1) 

and relevance determination (Sections 4.1.3 and 4.2.4) portions of the process.

3.1.3 Formation of the Internal Science Review Team

The resource data collection process included evaluating resources for relevance and inclusion in 

the ESID. This task required scientific expertise in various marine science disciplines. An 

Internal Science Review Team (ISRT) of scientists knowledgeable in each Resource Category

(Table 2) was assembled. The ISRT had the following project responsibilities. 

 1) Create keywords for the Resource Categories to be used during literature and data 

searches. 

 2) Develop criteria and relevance matrices for each of the Resource Categories to 

facilitate the evaluation of resources. 

 3) Review the resource abstracts for relevance to the ESID using the relevance matrices. 

 4) Review resources for potential GIS data extraction. 
15 

Table 2. 

ESID Internal Science Review Team (ISRT).

Resource 

Category

Resource SubCategoryLead Resource 

Expert Collaborative Keyword Team

Geology N/A Strum, Stuart (Atkins) Strum, Stuart (Atkins)

Thompson, John (CSA)

Water 

Quality N/A Montgomery, Ralph 

(Atkins)

Montgomery, Ralph (Atkins)

Lagera, Luis (CSA)

Pelagic 

Ecology N/A Jenkins, Kristen (Atkins) Jenkins, Kristin (Atkins)

Benthic 

Ecology

Seafloor Features Spring, Keith (CSA) Spring, Keith (CSA)

Infauna, Meiofauna Balcom, Brian (CSA) Balcom, Brian (CSA)

Demersal Fishes Snyder, Dave (CSA) Snyder, Dave (CSA)

Jenkins, Kristin (Atkins)

Coral and 

Hardbottom Spring, Keith (CSA) Spring, Keith (CSA)

Deis, Don (Atkins)

Seagrass Deis, Don (Atkins) Deis, Don (Atkins)

3.1.4 Obtaining Relevant Information

A vital key to the development of the ESID was to design an efficient method for locating and 

collecting relevant information. Two types of information were included in the data collection 

process: documents (peer-reviewed scientific literature, technical reports, government 

documents, etc.) and data (raw data and GIS data). The search protocols used during the 

literature and dataset searches were distinct and are discussed in more detail in Sections 4.1 and 

4.2. The literature search involved a professional librarian with extensive experience in 

scientific research and expert knowledge in marine bibliographic databases. The dataset 

searches were based on website reviews and were performed by staff with backgrounds in 

marine science.

3.1.5 Prioritization – Relevance Matrices

Once potential resources had been located, it was imperative to quickly and efficiently determine 

the relevance of a particular resource to the ESID. The ISRT developed two decision criteria, 

which were applied to potential resources during the data collection process: 1) threshold criteria 

and 2) relevance criteria. The threshold criteria helped the ISRT determine if a resource was

worthy of closer examination. The threshold criteria for all resource categories were: topic 

(clearly applies or may apply to the Resource Categories) and location (clearly applies or may 
16 

apply to the ESID project area). These threshold criteria essentially served as a “first cut” for 

potential resources because these two basic criteria must be satisfied for any resource to be 

relevant to the ESID. 

A document or dataset met the “topic” criterion if the study had been conducted to address 

aspects of a specific Resource Category and was not substantially conducted to address excluded 

topics. A document met the “location” criterion if the study had been conducted substantially 

within Federal waters and within BOEM's three Atlantic Planning Areas within the EEZ. A 

study in State waters was included only if it overlapped with Federal waters and was relevant to 

the Resource Categories. (Work in State waters can be included in the ESID but was excluded 

for this effort due to budget limitations).

Relevance criteria specific to each Resource Category were developed by the ISRT to help in 

reviewing abstracts to determine if the document should be acquired and to prioritize the 

resources relative to one another for acquisition. These relevance criteria were combined into a 

“Relevance Matrix” which displayed all of the relevance criteria for each Resource Category. A 

detailed description explaining the application of the Relevance Matrix to the document and data 

search can be found in Sections 4.1.3 and 4.2.4, respectively.

3.1.6 Bibliographic Database (RefWorks®) 

An appropriate bibliographic database framework was required as a repository for the document 

resources’ bibliographic metadata. With the appropriate bibliographic database tool, users could

perform a bibliographic search and house the data as they were collected. The original scope of 

work called for the use of Reference Manager® Version 12. However, several bibliographic 

database software tools were evaluated and the RefWorks® bibliographic database (RefWorks®) 

was chosen for use in the ESID project. RefWorks® offers a variety of advantages to the ESID, 

including the following. 

• It is a web-based research management tool that provides simultaneous, centralized 

access to multiple users. The RefWorks® database is housed on an external network and 

users can access the database through the Internet. Thus, no specialized software is 

required on individual user machines and users can access the database from any 

location. Multiple users were able to upload and download information simultaneously 

to the RefWorks® database, making it an advanced and efficient bibliographic tool. 

• RefWorks® provides the dual uses of a data management system and a bibliographic 

tool. In addition to simply housing bibliographic information, RefWorks® is used to 

manage data (i.e., add information regarding a resource, such as prioritization scores, 

tracking information, copyright restrictions and permissions, order status, cost to acquire, 

and QA/QC notes).

• It allowed easy interaction and feedback with BOEM. BOEM staff could review and 

approve bibliographic information remotely and monitor the data collection progress 

online. 
17 

• RefWorks® can directly import bibliographic information from Dialog® and 

WorldCatTM, the two primary library sources used to identify resource documents for the 

ESID project.

• Users can generate a list of the ESID resources directly from the database (i.e., the 

Preliminary Data List discussed in Section 5.1). 

All appropriate team members were provided access to the online RefWorks® database. The 

final ESID user interface provides the ability to export bibliographic information in Microsoft®

Excel® format and in Reference Manager® format, as required by the original scope of work. 

3.1.7 Quality Assurance/Quality Control

The seventh element of the resource data collection process was to make sure that proper quality 

procedures were applied to the project. Due to the complex and extensive nature of the data 

collection process, rigorous QA/QC processes had to be implemented to validate the process and 

results. Subject matter experts at all levels were associated with independent internal and 

external reviews with oversight from the Principal Investigator, who led the top level QA/QC 

program. The QA/QC process ensured consistency and completeness of the overall project, 

including the prioritization assignments across all Resource Categories.

3.2 USER STORY AND BUSINESS REQUIREMENTS

One of the ESID project goals was to provide a user-friendly system that would meet the needs 

of BOEM scientists. The initial requirements were collaboratively developed by BOEM

scientists at a number of locations. The requirements, as set forth in the original statement of 

work, explained in broad terms what the ESID was to do; however, these requirements were not 

defined clearly enough to design a system without further understanding of the user 

requirements.

To develop the ESID, a process was needed to further define the requirements of the ESID so

that everyone (potential users, management, developers, testers) had a common understanding of 

what the system was required to do. Conversations were held with users in various BOEM

regions to determine how they might use the ESID. These requirements were reduced to a series 

of “user stories”, by which all stakeholders could agree on the criteria and what the system was 

required to do (Figure 5). These user stories were translated into “business requirements” using 

a technique called “behavior-driven development,” a feature of agile programming methods. 

These requirements were documented in the “User Story and Business Requirements” document 

(Appendix A). 
18 

Figure 5. An example of the user stories, as contained in the ESID User Story and

Business Requirements document. 

3.3 SYSTEM DESIGN

The initial ESID system design was somewhat simple in that it called for development of the 

resource document database and provision of access to the database through the use of an Esri® 

ArcMap® GIS based interface. The ESID database was to be hosted on servers at the BOEM 

site in New Orleans, Louisiana. The initial system design concept was based on the use of an 

Esri® Personal Geodatabase together with other database components to be developed as part of 

the project. The ESID was to be served to the Esri® ArcMap® desktop applications at remote 

sites throughout the U.S. using Citrix software. This original system design is shown in Figure 

6. 

The contract called for delivery of a prototype ESID database after six months. To demonstrate 

the prototype database, a prototype of the desktop map application was developed in Esri® 

ArcMap®. This prototype desktop map application gave potential remote users an opportunity 

to see how the system was going to perform. Early on, the remote users expressed concern that 

system performance might be seriously compromised due to the amount of data required to be 

transferred from the BOEM servers in New Orleans to the remote sites. 
19 

Figure 6. Original ESID design.

An alternate design was proposed that would use web-based technologies and would host the 

data on a web server using an enterprise geodatabase. The interface to the database was to be 

provided by an application using Esri® ArcGIS Server® 10. About this time, the Department of 

the Interior issued new Information Technology (IT) guidelines dictating a “cloud first” policy; 

that is, managers were to consider hosting new applications in a virtual environment using

“cloud” implementations as a first option rather than expanding existing agency IT 

infrastructure. After reviewing the advantages and benefits of the web-based, cloud-based 

approach, BOEM requested that the team explore the implications of implementing the ESID 

using these technologies. A subsequent contract modification authorized a change such that the 

user interface would be implemented using a web-based map interface hosted on the Amazon 

EC2® cloud. Amazon EC2® was chosen because the Amazon EC2® cloud had already 

implemented Esri® ArcGIS Server®. This ensured ready migration of the ESID to a cloudbased system. This new system concept is illustrated in Figure 7. 
20 

One of the significant benefits of this approach is that the ESID could be readily deployed as 

both a “closed” system (i.e., accessible only by authorized users) and as an “open” system (i.e., 

accessible by the general public), subject to certain restrictions related to copyright restricted 

data. The ESID web interface was built using the Esri® Adobe Flex Application Programming 

Interface (API), which was chosen to leverage existing functionality already available within the 

API while focusing development efforts on components specific to the needs of the ESID. This 

approach permitted more functionality to be delivered within the project budget. Generic service 

oriented architecture (server) was developed so the ESID interface (client) could evolve into a 

variety of undetermined formats. 

Figure 7. ESID cloud system concept.
21 

3.4 ARCMARINE DATA MODEL

The ESID was required to accommodate “virtually unlimited growth” and address a very broad 

range of ecological and environmental data types. Although a relatively simple database 

structure would have sufficed for the initial ESID requirements, the growth requirement, together 

with the word and data search requirements, dictated that the database architecture needed to be 

designed to enable long-term sustainability. An Esri® project team member was specifically 

involved to provide guidance regarding the data model for the ESID. During the initial design 

phase, Esri® recommended the use of the geospatial data model, ArcMarine. ArcMarine, a 

complex data model based on Esri® ArcGIS, was developed collaboratively by marine scientists 

and researchers in many nations to provide a common framework for marine data exchange 

(Wright et al. 2007). While the ArcMarine data model is incorporated into the ESID, the ESID 

uses only a small portion of the ArcMarine model capabilities and is primarily used as a 

repository for all resource boundary layers.

3.5 USER INTERFACE

The user interface was required to provide the following capabilities. 

• Perform geographic extent search – point and radius (point with a defined buffer 

distance). 

• Perform geographic extent search – polygon extent (extent defined by a finite sequence 

of straight line segments). 

• Perform geographic extent search – Lease Area. 

• Perform geographic extent search – user uploaded shapefile. 

• Refine geographic extent searches with additional textual search terms and search of 

bibliographies. 

• Perform bibliographic search. 

• Allow viewing of search results (citations, resource Portable Document Formats (PDF), 

and associated data). 

• Provide downloading of resource documents. 

• Provide Help documentation to assist in usability. 

• Allow login and full bibliography view (BOEM Users). 

• Perform full text search of searchable PDF documents. 

• Allow uploading of resources (Data Loading). 

• Maintain resources (Data Review). 

• Provide an Administrative Component (User Management). 

• Create reports of search results (Microsoft® Excel® list of full bibliographies). 

• Export annotated bibliography to Reference Manager® Version 12. 

• Create user guide to assist in system administration. 

The user interface was originally intended to be created as a desktop application using Esri® 

ArcMap®. When it was determined that a web-based application would be implemented, the 

decision was made to deploy the system using the Esri® ArcGIS Server® and to develop the 

user interface using the Flex web application. 
22 

3.6 DOCUMENT WORD SEARCH DESIGN IMPLEMENTATION

The system was required to provide the capability to search the bibliography using word searches 

that were based on Boolean logic. To accomplish this, all resource documents in the system 

were to be converted to searchable PDF format. The system design incorporated two levels of 

word search capability. The first and simplest was a word search of the bibliographic records. 

Because the metadata for the bibliographic resources was based on the desired Resource 

Categories and keywords, this would provide a very rapid search capability.

For instances where a more thorough search is desired, the system was designed to accommodate 

searching for terms of interest within all text in every document located in the system. The 

design called for a multi-step process that would first “index” the documents in order to provide 

the matching search criteria for accessing the documents. A database index is a data structure

that improves the speed of data retrieval operations on a database table. In this case, indexing 

was needed to improve the speed with which the ESID can search all of the documents in the 

system.

Advanced indexing would be performed using PDFBox, an open source PDF manipulation tool 

together with Lucene, an open source indexing tool capable of operating with a variety of 

document formats. Figure 8 illustrates the processing flow for preparing documents for the word

search process.

Figure 8. Word search process.
23 

4.0 RESOURCE COLLECTION

The search for relevant resources to include in the ESID consisted of two distinct efforts. The 

first was to conduct a comprehensive search for literature relevant to the ESID project. The 

second was to conduct a comprehensive search for relevant datasets that might be available on 

existing websites. 

4.1 LITERATURE SEARCH

The literature search team consisted of scientists and technicians from AMEC, Atkins, and CSA. 

As described in Section 3.1.1, the team followed a detailed protocol in executing their tasks. 

Weekly team meetings were held during the resource collection phase to report on and chart the 

progress. 

4.1.1 Development of Keywords, Literature

Keywords were developed to capture as much information as possible that may be relevant to the 

ESID during the initial literature search and to efficiently target the search efforts to minimize 

gathering of extraneous information. Keyword list development began once the ISRT members 

had been assigned. Each ISRT lead resource expert generated a list of keywords that served as

the basis for the initial document search. For those categories with a collaborative keyword team 

member (as in Table 2), the ISRT lead expert sought input from the keyword team member. For 

consistency, all ISRT members followed the Guidelines for Preparing Key Words (included in 

Appendix B). 

The project librarian worked closely with each ISRT lead resource expert and the QA/QC 

manager to refine the keyword lists and the literature searches to arrive at a manageable number 

of results (“hits”) before generating the final title lists. This collaboration included deleting 

words or phrases, placing terms in an order of emphasis, and adding or modifying the geographic 

limiters. If an unreasonable number of hits resulted from the initial keyword-based search, the 

keywords were adjusted and the search re-run. Likewise, the keyword searches were initiated 

with no publication date restrictions. The final keyword lists underwent QA/QC by the principal 

investigator. The QA/QC review focused on completeness and consistency of the keyword lists. 

4.1.2 Literature Search Details

To locate relevant literature for inclusion in the ESID, the project librarian used the keyword lists 

and geographic limiters to search the following sources:

• Dialog® databank OCL WorldCatTM databank 

• Aquatic Commons 

• Targeted internet searches for EIS

The methodologies used to search each of these sources are described in the following sections.

4.1.2.1 Dialog® Searches 

Dialog® is a collection of 600 databases covering science, technology, intellectual property, and 

business. Literature searches for the seven Resource Categories were run in selected Dialog®
24 

databases. A list and description of the 12 Dialog® databases that were searched is provided in 

Appendix C. All listed databases (with the exception of Geoarchive® and GeoRef®) were used 

for each Resource Category search. Geoarchive® and GeoRef® were added to the other databases 

when searching only the Geology Resource Category. Dialog® allows very complex searches to 

be run across multiple databases at the same time, an option not allowed when one uses 

databases provided in a university library. The Dialog® databases are the most comprehensive 

versions of a database producer’s product. For instance, the Dialog® database Biosis Previews 

contains citations from 5,000 journal titles. In comparison, the Basic Biosis database, which is 

offered in many university libraries, covers only the prime 350 journal titles of the 5,000 in 

Biosis Previews. 

The literature searches were run using Dialog® Classic, the Dialog® platform for experienced 

Dialog® command language searchers. This is a fast and highly flexible interface for advanced

searchers. Special features include secure web server access, a buffer that captures and displays 

search results, and a search log for easy reuse of search statements. Each of the seven Resource 

Categories was searched separately. The databases were selected and search terms and set 

combinations were entered. The search statements for each Resource Category are included in 

Appendix D. The “Remove Duplicates” (RD) command was generated on the final result prior 

to output. Because RD removes only exact duplications, numerous duplicates were still present 

in the results. 

The Dialog® searches identified 27,118 potentially relevant resources (Table 3). To contain 

costs, final results of each search were output in the title only format (format 6) and saved in a 

word processing document file. An example of the Dialog® output title format is as follows. 

64/6/1 (Item 1 from file: 5)

DIALOG(R)File 5: Biosis Previews(R) 

(c) 2009 The Thomson Corporation. All rights reserved.

0021265600 Biosis No.: 200900607037 

A simulation model to explore the response of the Gulf of Maine food web to largescale environmental and ecological changes 2009

The resulting titles were imported into a spreadsheet according to Resource Category and the 

spreadsheets were distributed to the appropriate ISRT member for evaluation and prioritization, 

as described in Section 4.1.3 below. 
25 

Table 3. 

Number of titles identified and citations downloaded from the Dialog® and WorldcatTM

databanks.

No. of Titles Identified No. of Citations Downloaded 

Resource Category Dialog® WorldcatTM Dialog® WorldcatTM

Geology 4,782 54 2,668 54

Water Quality 4,308 46 1,956 46

Pelagic Ecology 11,395 64 2,598 64

Infauna/Meiofauna 1,503 12 887 12

Demersal Fishes 2,669 51 820 51

Coral and Hardbottom 2,346 86 119 86

Seagrass 115 0 18 0

Total 27,118 313 9,066 313

4.1.2.2 WorldcatTM Searches

Upon completion of the Dialog® database searches for each Resource Category, keyword

searches were run on WorldcatTM, the largest online public access catalog (OPAC) in the world. 

WorldcatTM is produced and maintained by the Online Computer Library Center (OCLCTM) and 

contains cataloging records of the collections of its 72,000 member libraries representing 170 

countries. It is the world’s largest, most complete, and most consulted library union catalog. 

While the Dialog® searches focused on journal articles and book chapters, searches of 

WorldcatTM located larger materials (e.g., books, theses, dissertations, government documents, 

technical reports, and other literature). A screen capture from the WorldcatTM search page is 

included in Appendix E. The WorldcatTM searches resulted in 313 potentially relevant resources

(Table 3). A typical record resulting from the WorldcatTM search is shown in Table 4 below. 

Table 4. 

Representative WorldcatTM search record.

Availability: FirstSearch indicates your institution owns the item. 

 Libraries worldwide that own item: 15 | Regional Holdings | State 

Holdings CSA LIBRARY 

Group Holdings 

External Resources:  Cite This Item 

 Copyright Clearance Center

FIND RELATED

/WebZ/FSFETCH?f
26 

 Table 4 (continued). Representative WorldcatTM search record.

More Like This: Search for versions with same title and author | Advanced options ...

Find Items About: United States. (5,257,957); Battelle Ocean Sciences (Organization) (1); 

Lamont-Doherty Geological Observatory. (11); Woods Hole 

Oceanographic Institution. (217)

Title: Study of biological processes on the U.S. Mid-Atlantic slope and rise /

Author(s): Maciolek, N.

Corp Author(s): United States.; Minerals Management Service. ; Battelle Ocean Sciences 

(Organization) ; Lamont-Doherty Geological Observatory. ; Woods Hole 

Oceanographic Institution.

Publication: Washington, D.C. : U.S. Dept. of the Interior, Minerals Management

Service,

Year: 1987

Description: 2 v. : ill., maps ; 28 cm.

Language: English

Series: OCS study; 

Contents: v. 1. Executive summary -- v. 2. Final report.

Accession No: OCLC: 17862869

SUBJECT(S) 

Descriptor: Oil and gas leases -- Environmental aspects -- United States.

Offshore oil well drilling -- Environmental aspects.

Benthos -- Atlantic Coast (U.S.)

Note(s): Performed by Battelle Ocean Sciences with Woods Hole Oceanographic 

Institution and Lamont-Doherty Geological Observatory./ "Contract no. 

14-12-0001-30064."/ "December 15, 1987."/ "MMS 87-0050."/ Includes 

bibliographies.

Class Descriptors: LC: TN871.3

Responsibility: by N. Maciolek ... [et al.].

Material Type: Government publication (gpb); National government publication (ngp)

Document Type: Book

Entry: 19880428

Update: 20090516

Database: WorldCatTM
27 

4.1.2.3 Aquatic Commons Searches

Aquatic Commons is a digital repository covering the natural marine, estuarine/brackish and 

fresh water environments. The Aquatic Commons search located only relevant documents that 

duplicated citations already located in our Dialog® and WorldcatTM searches. Plans to search the 

OAIster® digital repository were changed when the records were incorporated into WorldcatTM. 

A screen capture from the Aquatic Commons search page is included in Appendix E. 

4.1.2.4 Targeted Internet Searches

Targeted internet searches were conducted to identify EIS documents within the project area that 

might not have been identified in the WorldcatTM search. Using the keyword lists for the 

Dialog® searches, multiple searches using various combinations of keywords were run on both 

WorldcatTM and Aquatic Commons. These databanks do not allow for the very sophisticated 

search statements that can be entered all at one time on Dialog®. The citations were downloaded 

for a total of 28 EIS documents using both the WorldcatTM and targeted internet searches. It 

should be noted that a majority of the EIS documents identified by the Internet searches had 

previously been identified during the WorldcatTM search. 

4.1.3 Prioritization of Literature

4.1.3.1 Prioritization of Literature Titles

The document titles identified during the Dialog® database searches were evaluated to determine 

whether the complete citation and abstract should be obtained for further evaluation. The 

spreadsheets containing the list of titles generated for each Research Category contained an easyto-use macro enabled “yes/no” selection option for each title. The spreadsheets were distributed 

to the appropriate ISRT member for evaluation and prioritization. The ISRT members evaluated 

the titles on a yes/no basis using the two threshold criteria: 1) the study topic clearly applies or 

may apply to the Resource Categories and 2) the study location clearly applies or may apply to 

the ESID project area. 

These two basic criteria must be satisfied in order for any resource to be relevant to the ESID. If 

the title was assigned a “no” by the ISRT lead resource expert, the title was rejected and retained 

for review by the BOEM, if desired. If the title was assigned a “yes”, the project librarian 

obtained and imported the complete citation and abstract into RefWorks®. If the title did not 

provide enough information for a yes/no decision to be made, it was retained as a “yes.” The 

ISRT’s title review process resulted in eliminating 66.6% of the 27,118 titles identified in the 

original Dialog® searches.

4.1.3.2 Prioritization of Literature Citations/Abstracts

All of the 9,066 Dialog® literature titles assigned a “yes” by the ISRT were then downloaded as 

complete citations with abstracts, when available, in a tagged format (format 4). An example of 

the complete citation with abstract downloaded for a title that was assigned a “yes” is as follows. 

140/4/2838 (Item 971 from file: 185)

DIALOG(R)File 185:Zoological Record Online(R)

(c) 2010 The Thomson Corp. All rights reserved.
28 

FN- DIALOG(R) File 185:Zoological Record Online(R)|

CZ- (c) 2010 The Thomson Corp. All rights reserved.|

AZ- 05711875| 

AA- 14211068717| 

TI- Initial recruitment and growth of surfclams (Spisula solidissimaDillwyn) on the 

inner continental shelf of New Jersey.| 

AU- Ma, Hongguang (a); Grassle, Judith P.; Rosario, Jeanine M.| 

CS- (a) Rutgers State Univ, Inst Marine and Coastal Sci, 71 Dudley Rd, New

Brunswick, NJ 08901; USA hgma@imcs.rutgers.edu| 

SO- Journal of Shellfish Research 25(2), August 2006: 481-489. [Print]| 

RT- Abstract|

DT- Article|

SN- 0730-8000| 

LA- English|

SL- English|

PY- 2006| 

AB- Surfclam (Spisula solidissima Dillwyn) larval settlement and the initial growth 

of recruits were studied on the inner shelf of New Jersey. Initial recruitment was 

measured by taking weekly benthic core samples during the summer settling season, 

and larval supply was characterized using meroplankton samples taken every four 

hours in July. The temporal variation in recruitment at two inshore stations (12-m 

depth) was linked to larval supply from the water column, and spatial differences 

(inshore vs. offshore) in recruitment also appeared to be related to larval supply. 

Spatial and temporal variation in larval concentrations was associated with winddriven cross-shelf circulation. Contrasting recruitment patterns between the two 

inshore stations could not be explained by larval supply alone and were likely 

affected by near-bottom flows. Growth rates of initial surfclam recruits (with initial 

shell lengths 360 [mu]m) were estimated to be 10-20 ton d-1, and the growth rates of 

individuals >360 [mu]m shell length were 25-50 [mu]m d-1. This study provides 

realistic field estimates of early growth rates of surfclams and further evidence of 

the relationship between upwelling/downwelling events and surfclam larval supply 

and initial recruitment on the inner continental shelf.|

DE- Spisula solidissima--Growth rate, Postsettlement juveniles, Recruitment, Initial 

recruitment spatial & temporal patterns, cross shelf circulation relationships, Water 

movements, Upwelling & cross shelf circulation patterns, North Atlantic, USA, New

Jersey|

BT- Life cycle and development; Development; Growth; Ecology; Population 

dynamics; Abiotic factors; Physical factors; Marine zones; Atlantic Ocean

|BC- Mollusca

 *Bivalvia 

 **Heterodonta 

 ***Veneroida 

 ****Mactroidea| 

TS- Invertebrates; Molluscs|

BS- Spisula solidissima--( Mactroidea )||
29 

An Electronic Redistribution and Archiving (ERA) command was added to the Dialog® 

command to output the citations. Adding an ARCHIVE 25 to the output command pays for the 

legal right to store the downloaded citations on one computer network and make the information 

available to fewer than 26 people. 

The downloaded, tagged citations and abstracts from Dialog® were then imported into 

RefWorks® and placed in the appropriate folder. For the literature searches, RefWorks® was 

used as both a repository for citations and a vehicle through which the ISRT performed their 

reviews. Within RefWorks®, each ISRT lead resource expert evaluated the citations and 

abstracts within their assigned Resource Category using a resource-specific relevance matrix 

(Table 5). The ISRT members were then able to prioritize each citation directly in the 

RefWorks® database and place a number in the Priority field. 

The number of WorldcatTM records requiring ISRT review (313 records) was much smaller than 

the results from the Dialog® search. Citations within WorldcatTM could easily be marked for 

export directly into an open RefWorks® database. Because the records were imported directly 

into RefWorks®, the yes/no title review step was unnecessary, because the ISRT members were 

able to prioritize and cull these records with Refshare. Refshare provided a link to a portion of 

the RefWorks® database for review, without jeopardizing the integrity of the RefWorks® 

database.

4.1.3.3 Priority Rankings

The ISRT team members used the relevance matrix to determine whether each resource should 

be recommended to BOEM for acquisition and to prioritize the resources relative to one another. 

The prioritization rankings were based on the citation and abstract. Some references, particularly 

those obtained from WorldcatTM, lacked abstracts; thus, prioritization was based on the resource 

title, subject headings, and occasionally the table of contents in the document. All citations and 

abstracts within RefWorks® were categorized as Priority 0, 1, or 2. Only one priority ranking 

was assigned to each abstract by one ISRT member and this value was recorded in RefWorks® 

in the optional field entitled “priority.” The priorities were defined as:

• Priority 0 (P0) – These resources were not obtained or included in the ESID. After the 

abstracts were reviewed by the ISRT, it was determined that they were not applicable to the 

criteria defined in the relevance matrix.

• Priority 1 (P1) – These resources were recommended to BOEM to be obtained and included 

in the ESID. Geographic boundaries (“footprints” that represent the limit of the study) were 

created. They were the highest priority based on the evaluation using the relevance matrix. 

• Priority 2 (P2) – These resources were a lower priority (based on the evaluation using the 

relevance matrix) and were not obtained. However, the abstracts and citations were retained 

in RefWorks®. 

The literature searches generated numerous duplicate citations across different Resource 

Categories. In these cases, the duplicate records were merged and the priority rankings from 
30 

each individual ISRT member were combined in the priority field in RefWorks® (e.g., 1 

Demersal Fish, 2 Pelagic Ecology, 0 Seagrass). 

The ISRT lead resource expert may have recorded a brief explanatory note in the “remarks” field 

of RefWorks® about why a resource had been retained or rejected, especially if it was a factor 

not captured within the criteria in the relevance matrix. As described in Section 4.1.4, the 

librarian acquired the complete document for P1 resources.
31 

Table 5. 

 

Relevance matrix for evaluating resource abstracts.

Resource 

Category 

(Category Code)

Relevance Criteria & Rank

High Priority (=1) Lower Priority (=2) Not Important (=0)

RELEVANT TO 

ALL

CATEGORIES

• Studies that were conducted 

substantially within the 

geographically defined project

area, focused primarily on the 

Resource Category, and include 

spatially explicit data 

• Appears to concern renewable 

energy

• Has GIS in title or abstract or 

contains specific geographic 

information

• Studies that focus on one or more of 

the high priority topics but are 

geographically peripheral (e.g., a 

study in state waters that was 

included because it overlapped with 

one or more of the Atlantic 

Planning Areas) 

• Multidisciplinary studies that were 

conducted substantially in the 

geographically defined project area 

and include spatially explicit data, 

but where the Resource Category 

was not the primary focus

• Is interim or incomplete

• Not peer reviewed

• Studies that do not meet the 

threshold criteria as initially 

assumed based on the title review 

alone. After the abstracts were 

reviewed, it was determined that 

they were not relevant to the 

project because they were not in 

the area or on topic.

Geology (GEO) • Studies that meet the threshold 

criteria and address one or more 

of the following topics:

• Geospatial data on seafloor 

features, habitats, processes, or 

sediment characteristics (e.g., 

rock outcrops, canyons, shelf 

edge features, ridge-and-swale 

topography, sediment grain size, 

contaminants, etc.) 

• Any other studies (other than High 

Priority topics) that meet the 

threshold criteria.

• Studies that do not meet the 

threshold criteria as initially 

assumed based on the title review 

alone. After the abstracts were 

reviewed, it was determined that 

they were not relevant to the 

project because they were not in 

the area or on topic.
32 

Table 5 (continued). Relevance matrix for evaluating resource abstracts.

Resource 

Category 

(Category Code)

Relevance Criteria & Rank

High Priority (=1) Lower Priority (=2) Not Important (=0)

Geology (GEO)

continued

• Studies dealing with critical 

geochemical processes with ecological 

ramifications, such as nutrient or 

contaminant transfer within sediments 

and across the sediment-water

interface

Water Quality 

(WQ)

• Studies that meet the threshold criteria 

and address one or more of the 

following topics: 

o Water quality conditions, 

processes, and changes that are 

relevant to understanding the 

marine ecology of the project area

o Water quality conditions, 

processes, and changes that 

influence the health, reproduction 

and/or spatial distribution of marine 

biota

o Water quality impacts of 

anthropogenic activities

• Any other studies (other than High 

Priority topics) that meet the 

threshold criteria

• Studies that do not meet the 

threshold criteria as initially 

assumed based on the title 

review alone. After the 

abstracts were reviewed, it 

was determined that they 

were not relevant to the 

project because they were not 

in the area or on topic.

Pelagic Ecology 

(PE)

• Studies that meet the threshold criteria 

and address one or more of the 

following topics:

• Economically- or ecologicallyimportant taxa whose entire life 

history is spent in pelagic zone (age, 

growth, population identification, 

feeding)

• Studies that meet the High Priority 

topics, except that taxa spend only a 

portion of life history in the pelagic 

zone

• Any other studies (other than High 

Priority topics) that meet the 

threshold criteria

• Studies that do not meet 

threshold criteria as initially 

assumed based on title review 

alone. After the abstracts 

were reviewed, it was 

determined that they were not 

relevant to the project because 

they were not in area or on 

topic.
33 

Table 5 (continued). Relevance matrix for evaluating resource abstracts.

Resource 

Category 

(Category Code)

Relevance Criteria & Rank

High Priority (=1) Lower Priority (=2) Not Important (=0)

Pelagic Ecology 

(PE) continued

• Relative abundance, densities, 

biomass, distribution and 

seasonality of pelagic taxa 

(zooplankton, fish, etc.)

• Threatened or endangered pelagic 

taxa (unless included under another 

Resource Category such as marine 

mammals and sea turtles which 

have been excluded from the 

selected titles)

• Pelagic Sargassum habitat

• Effects of anthropogenic activities 

(waste dumping, oil spills, etc.) or 

other environmental stressors on 

pelagic taxa

Benthic 

EcologyInfauna, 

Meiofauna (IM)

• Studies or research conducted 

within the geographically-defined 

Planning Areas which focused 

primarily on benthic communities, 

and included spatially explicit data 

on one or more of the following 

topics:

o Species composition, densities, 

relative abundance, richness, 

biomass, distribution, and/or 

seasonality of benthic 

communities;

• Any other studies (other than High 

Priority topics) that meet the 

threshold criteria.

• Studies that do not meet the 

threshold criteria as initially 

assumed based on the title review 

alone. Once the abstracts were 

reviewed, it is evident that they 

were not relevant to the project 

because they were not in the area 

or on topic.
34 

Table 5 (continued). Relevance matrix for evaluating resource abstracts.

Resource 

Category 

(Category 

Code)

Relevance Criteria & Rank

High Priority (=1) Lower Priority (=2) Not Important (=0)

Benthic 

EcologyInfauna, 

Meiofauna 

(IM)

continued

o Economically- or ecologicallyimportant benthic species;

o Listed or candidate threatened or 

endangered benthic species;

o Benthic assemblages associated 

with geologic features or particular 

substrate types; or

• Effects of anthropogenic activities or 

other environmental stressors on 

benthic communities.

Benthic 

EcologyDemersal 

Fishes (DM)

• Studies that meet the threshold criteria 

and address one or more of the 

following topics:

• Species composition, densities, 

relative abundance, richness, biomass, 

distribution, or seasonality of 

demersal fishes

• Economically- or ecologicallyimportant demersal taxa (age, growth, 

reproduction, population 

identification, feeding ecology, etc.) 

• Threatened or endangered demersal 

species (Atlantic sturgeon; smalltooth 

sawfish);

• Exotic species (e.g., lionfish);

• Any other studies (other than High 

Priority topics) that meet the 

threshold criteria 

• Studies that do not meet the 

threshold criteria as initially 

assumed based on the title review 

alone. Once the abstracts were 

reviewed, it is evident that they 

were not relevant to the project 

because they were not in the area 

or on topic.
35 

Table 5 (continued). Relevance matrix for evaluating resource abstracts.

High Priority (=1) Lower Priority (=2) Not Important (=0)

Benthic EcologyDemersal Fishes 

(DM) continued

• Demersal fish assemblages 

associated with geologic features 

or particular substrate types

• Effects of anthropogenic activities 

or other environmental stressors 

on demersal fishes

Benthic EcologyCoral & 

Hardbottom 

(CH)

• Studies that were conducted 

substantially within the 

geographically-defined project

area, focused primarily on coral 

and hardbottom communities, and 

include spatially explicit data on 

one or more of the following 

topics:

o Species composition, densities, 

relative abundance, or 

distribution of “non-fish” 

component species of coral 

reef or hard bottom 

communities;

o Ecologically important coral 

reef or hardbottom community 

taxa;

Threatened or endangered coral 

reef or hardbottom community 

taxa; or

• Any other studies (other than High 

Priority topics) that meet the 

threshold criteria 

• Studies that do not meet the 

threshold criteria as initially 

assumed based on the title review 

alone. Once the abstracts were 

reviewed, it is evident that they 

were not relevant to the project 

because they were not in the area 

or on topic.
36 

Table 5 (continued). Relevance matrix for evaluating resource abstracts.

Resource 

Category 

(Category Code)

Relevance Criteria & Rank

High Priority (=1) Lower Priority (=2) Not Important (=0)

Benthic EcologyCoral & 

Hardbottom 

(CH) continued

• Effects of anthropogenic activities 

(such as commercial fishing gear) 

or other environmental stressors 

on coral reef or hardbottom 

communities

Benthic EcologySeagrass (S)

• Studies that meet the threshold 

criteria and address one or more 

of the following topics:

• Studies that focus on the ecology 

of seagrass or attached macroalgal 

communities in the project area or 

adjacent state waters, excluding 

estuaries

• Studies that may have included 

sampling of seagrasses or 

attached macroalgae within the 

project area or adjacent state 

waters, excluding estuaries

• Studies that describe the use of 

seagrasses or attached macroalgae 

in the project area or adjacent 

state waters, excluding estuaries

• Seagrass associated species that 

may have a portion of their life 

history in the project area.

• Any other studies (other than High 

Priority topics) that meet the 

threshold criteria 

• Studies that do not meet the 

threshold criteria as initially 

assumed based on the title review 

alone. Once the abstracts were 

reviewed, it is evident that they 

were not relevant to the project 

because they were not in the area 

or on topic.

a Threshold criteria for seagrasses were broader than for the other topics. Geographically, the search included studies in the project area and adjacent 

state waters, but typically excluding estuaries. Topically, studies on attached macroalgae (e.g., kelp) were of interest if they were found, although these 

topics were not included in the search terms. 
37 

4.1.4 Acquisition of Literature

A total of 2,717 resources were assigned a P1 ranking and an attempt was made to acquire all of 

these P1 resources. The project librarian used numerous sources for document acquisition, in the 

following order: 

• The Internet; 

• The library of CSA; 

• The library of Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution (HBOI) at Florida Atlantic 

University; 

• The library of the Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science (RSMAS) at 

University of Miami; 

• The library of Florida International University (FIU); 

• The interlibrary loan system through Firstsearch/OCLC membership; 

• Personal e-mail communications with Marine Librarians from the U.S., Denmark, 

Germany, and the United Kingdom; and 

• Personal e-mail communications with authors of individual resources. 

The project librarian first attempted to locate full text documents using a standard Internet search 

and the internal library collection at CSA. For documents not available from these sources, the 

project librarian made arrangements to use the resources of the HBOI and RSMAS libraries. The 

HBOI library is a marine science library that is part of the Florida State University system and, 

consequently, has access to large collection of scientific journals. The RSMAS library has a 

much larger collection than HBOI and is arguably the finest marine library in the southeastern 

U.S. A search of the FIU library’s Electronic Journals access was also conducted to obtain 

resource documents. Documents acquired from these libraries came in a variety of formats, 

including downloaded PDF documents, digital scans of paper documents, and photocopies. 

The P1 resources that were not available on the Internet or from the CSA, HBOI, or RSMAS

libraries were ordered through the interlibrary loan system or personal e-mail communications. 

The Firstsearch/OCLC database shows the holding libraries for all materials in the database. On 

an online form, the borrower specifies five possible libraries to fill the request. Florida libraries 

were always requested first because CSA has reciprocal arrangements with nearly all Florida 

libraries to provide loans and copies free of charge. An example of an interlibrary loan request 

form is included in Appendix F and an example of an interlibrary loan invoice is included in 

Appendix G. In addition, the project librarian e-mailed the authors of individual resources, and 

marine librarians from the U.S., Denmark, Germany, and the United Kingdom to obtain 

resources. 
38 

A total of 173 P1 documents were not acquired because the documents could not be acquired, 

were in foreign languages, were available in only microfiche or microfilm format, or were 

associated with an acquisition cost. The resource documents that could not be acquired were

simply unattainable because the holding library prohibited photocopying or would not lend the 

item, or the resource document was not available anywhere. In many cases, contact was initiated 

with authors but no response was received. Per an agreement with BOEM, resource documents 

available only in foreign languages or in microfiche or microfilm format were not acquired. A 

few documents had English summaries but, based on conversations with the contracting officer’s 

technical representative (COTR), these summaries were not included in the ESID. 

4.2 DATASET SEARCH

4.2.1 Website List and Prioritization

Based on the web perusals and recommendations from the ISRT and the BOEM, a total of 109 

websites were suggested for evaluation. The websites were affiliated mostly with government 

agencies, universities, and private research laboratories. Due to time and budget restrictions, the 

team could not evaluate all 109 websites. Thus, the websites were compiled and prioritized into 

a search order. 

First, the ISRT were asked to “vote” for those websites that would likely contain data for their 

resource topic. BOEM also provided their input and listed the websites they believed to have the 

most relevant information and data for the ESID. The total number of “votes” for each website 

was tallied and the websites were prioritized based on the number of votes received. The 

website receiving the highest number of votes was ranked number one. If several websites 

received the same number of votes, they were subjectively ordered based on their potential 

relevancy to the ESID project. Based on time and budget, it was determined that the first 34 

websites (i.e., websites ranked one through 34) would be searched for data and information 

applicable to the ESID. The websites were searched in chronological order, starting with the 

website receiving the largest number of votes. 

4.2.2 Website Search Strategy

A total of 34 websites was thoroughly searched for data relevant to the ESID . Each website fell 

into one of the following categories: 1) websites without a query feature (excluding a generalized 

“search” field), 2) queryable websites, and 3) websites with a list of external web links. A 

majority of the websites searched did not have a query feature. In these instances, the website’s 

links were followed until datasets were located. Links obviously leading to websites that did not 

contain data (e.g., meeting summaries and agendas, stakeholder letters, public hearings, press 

releases, scoping hearings) were not searched exhaustively because their purpose was 

informational or public relations oriented. Primary web links that contained related sub-links 

were evaluated to determine if data were readily available. If data appeared to be readily 

available, web links were followed until the datasets were located. If data did not appear to be 

readily available, the sub-link was typically not evaluated further. All links potentially 

applicable to the ESID were documented in a Microsoft® Excel® spreadsheet and evaluated for 

eligibility (example of spreadsheet provided in Appendix H). 
39 

Table 6. 

 

List of the 34 websites searched for data relevant to the ESID.

Website 

Priority

Website Name Web Address

1

National Oceanographic Data Center 

(NODC) http://www.nodc.noaa.gov/General/getdata.html

2

National Centers for Coastal Ocean 

Science (NCCOS) http://coastalscience.noaa.gov/data/welcome.html

3 National Ocean Service (NOS) http://oceanservice.noaa.gov/

4

National Undersea Research Center 

(NURC) http://www.uncw.edu/nurc/index.htm# 

5 Coastal Services Center (CSC) http://www.csc.noaa.gov/

6

Coral Reef Information System 

(CoRIS) http://coris.noaa.gov/ 

7

VIMS Center for Coastal Resources 

Management GIS Data and Maps 

http://ccrm.vims.edu/gis_data_maps/data/index.ht

ml

8

Rosenstiel School of Marine and 

Atmospheric Sciences (RSMAS) http://www.rsmas.miami.edu/research/ 

9 WHOI Data Center http://www.whoi.edu/page.do?pid=7140

10

National Geographic Data Center 

(NGDC) http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/

11

Coastal Services Center Digital 

Library

http://www.csc.noaa.gov/digitalcoast/data/index.ht

ml

12

usSEABED - sediment and rock 

distributions http://walrus.wr.usgs.gov/usseabed/

13

National Undersea Research Program 

(NURP) http://www.nurp.noaa.gov/Library.htm 

14 NURC North Atlantic and Great Lakes 

http://www.nurc.uconn.edu/research/mis/rexplorer.

asp 

15 WHOI Additional Resources http://www.whoi.edu/page.do?pid=11535

16

NMFS Fishery Management Councils 

- New England FMC http://www.nefmc.org/

17

NMFS Fishery Management Councils 

- Mid Atlantic FMC http://www.mafmc.org/

18

NMFS Fishery Management Councils 

- South Atlantic FMC http://www.safmc.net/

19 FWC GIS Data 

http://ocean.floridamarine.org/efh_coral/ims/Descr

iption_Layers.htm

20

USGS Coastal and Marine Geology 

Internet Map Server and GIS Data http://coastalmap.marine.usgs.gov/

21

USGS Marine Realms Information 

Bank http://mrib.usgs.gov/
40 

Table 6 (continued). List of the 34 websites searched for data relevant to the ESID.

Website 

Priority

Website Name Web Address

22

Census of Marine Life’s Ocean 

Biogeographic Information System

http://www.coml.org/projects/oceanbiogeographic-information-system-obis 

23 American Fisheries Society http://www.fisheries.org/afs/publications.html

24

National Biological Information 

Infrastructure (NBII) 

http://www.nbii.gov/portal/community/Communiti

es/NBII_Home/ 

25

U. New Hampshire Online Data 

Center for Coastal and Ocean 

Mapping (CCOM) http://ccom.unh.edu/ 

26 NOAA Fisheries GIS Data http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/gis/data/index.htm

27 Global Ecosystems Database 

http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/ecosys/cdroms/ged_iia/

go.htm#top

28 Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory

http://www.ldeo.columbia.edu/research/databasesrepositories

29 U. North Carolina Chapel Hill http://marine.unc.edu/ 

30

U. South Carolina Baruch Institute for 

Marine and Coastal Sciences http://www.baruch.sc.edu/ 

31

SCRIPPS Institution of Oceanography 

Library http://libraries.ucsd.edu/locations/sio/

32

SCRIPPS Institution of Oceanography 

Databases

http://libraries.ucsd.edu/locations/sio/resources/ke

y-databases-for-oceanography-earth-sciences.html 

33

NOVA Southeastern Univ. 

Oceanographic Center http://www.nova.edu/ocean/ 

34 NOAA Website http://www.noaa.gov/

Four of the 34 websites had a query feature including the Coral Reef Information System – 

(CoRIS), U.S. Geological Survey’s (USGS) Marine Realms Information Bank (MRIB), National 

Oceanographic Data Center (NODC), and National Undersea Research Center - North Atlantic 

and Great Lakes (NURC-NAGL). Search criteria selected within the query field included 

geographic region or environmental categories potentially within the ESID project area. 

One website, the National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science (NCCOS), contained a list of 

external web links leading to other websites. Each of the external web links was searched for 

datasets. Four of the six external web links were not searched because data were either outside 

of the project area, not applicable to the ESID Resource Categories, or had their own Microsoft®

Excel® tracking spreadsheet. 

4.2.3 Website Written Protocol and Tracking Spreadsheet

A Microsoft® Excel® tracking spreadsheet and written protocol were created to document and 

track the progress through each website searched. The spreadsheet provided the following 

information for web links searched on each website: web address, description or title, unique ID 

number (if available), if data were available (yes or no), the priority assignment (assigned by 

ISRT leader – see Section 4.2.4), the reason for ESID ineligibility (if applicable), the data type

(e.g., interactive mapping tool, graphs, raw tabular data, GIS data, etc), location where data were
41 

collected, year of data collection, ISRT leader associated with the data type, abstract, and 

miscellaneous notes (Appendix H). The web links on the spreadsheet were organized and 

presented in the order in which the search was performed. Header rows were also added to

provide additional direction to the dataset from the home web page. Only unique pages were 

recorded in the spreadsheet. If available datasets were found under more than one web link, they 

were included in the spreadsheet only under the web link where they were first identified. Web 

links with access to publications were noted in the spreadsheet. All web links with data 

potentially applicable to the ESID were flagged for prioritization by the appropriate ISRT leader 

(see Section 4.2.4). 

Written protocols were also created for all 34 websites searched (Appendix I). Each protocol 

provided the website address, dates of the website search, the name of the person performing the 

search, and a detailed description of the search strategy performed. The protocol also listed 

datasets not applicable to the ESID as well as those datasets that were relevant to the ESID. 

Priority assignments were provided by the ISRT for all datasets applicable to the ESID (see 

Section 4.2.4). 

4.2.4 Prioritization of Resulting Datasets

Each web link accessed during the website searches was documented in the Microsoft® Excel®

tracking spreadsheet and prioritized. Several different codes were used in the priority column of 

the spreadsheet. The website searcher applied a P0 to those web links that did not have data or to 

those datasets that did not meet the threshold criteria. In order to satisfy the threshold criteria, 

the dataset must be applicable to the Resource Categories and collected within the project area. 

Datasets consisting solely of photo or video data were also assigned a P0. All datasets 

potentially meeting the threshold criteria were highlighted in the spreadsheet for prioritization by 

the appropriate ISRT leader. Priority 1 (P1) and Priority 2 (P2) categories were applied to 

datasets according to their relevancy to the ESID project. An “M” was added as a suffix to P1 or 

P2 codes if the row in the spreadsheet represented project metadata. Table 7 summarizes the 

criteria used to prioritize datasets that were identified. At times it was possible to acquire the 

data associated with metadata files (see Section 4.2.5). 
42 

Table 7. 

Prioritization of datasets identified during the website searches.

Priority 

Ranking

Resource 

Category

Prioritization Criteria

Priority 0

(P0) 

Benthic & 

Pelagic Ecol

- Datasets solely containing fisheries landings/catch data

- Results of tagging surveys on monkfish (including mortality data)

Geology

- Data from deep-coring projects including studies of plate tectonics, 

earth's crustal structure and composition, conditions in ancient oceans, 

and paleoclimatology

Priority 0 

(P0) 

Geology

- Paleoclimatological data

- Carbon 14 dating data

- Igneous rock data which is not representative of seafloor environmental 

conditions for the OCS

- Interactive mapping servers or viewers of data (the datasets populating 

each interactive server/viewer were evaluated separately)

- Physical catalogs of sediment samples (i.e., sample type, sample 

coordinates, water depth, core length, information about sample archival)

- Geochemical data of ocean floor igneous and metamorphic rocks 

including major oxides, trace elements, stable and radiogenic isotope 

ratios, and analytical ages

Water 

Quality

- Datasets that only contain meteorological data and/or physical 

oceanographic data (e.g., current, wave, temperature, salinity, 

conductivity)

- Bacterial abundance, biomass, and productivity data

Priority 1 

(P1) 

Benthic & 

Pelagic Ecol

- Environmental/ecological data and mapped distribution of habitats

- Spatially explicit data on coral reef or hardbottom community taxa

- GIS data showing distribution of endangered/threatened species

- Benthic habitat data

- Lobster distribution and abundance data

- Zooplankton species abundance data

- Abundance, size, and fecundity of Salpa aspera 

- Exotic/invasive species information

Geology

- Sediment texture and contaminant data

- GIS data for bottom sediment sampling and sidescan sonar

- GIS data for seafloor geology and surficial sediment data

- Map displaying bottom geologic interpretation of sidescan sonar

- Geological and seafloor data

Water 

Quality

- Water quality data that include pollutants (e.g., hydrocarbons, PCBs)
43 

Table 7 (continued). Prioritization of datasets identified during the website searches.

Priority 

Ranking

Resource 

Category

Prioritization Criteria

- Water quality data with biological components

Other - GIS data and maps of anthropogenic impacts

Priority 2 

(P2) 

Benthic and 

Pelagic 

Ecology

- Fish sighting frequency and density scores (count data)

- Bottom type maps for Oculina Bank (limited data)

- Spatially explicit tag/recapture datasets

- Juvenile lobster abundance and distribution data using tag/recapture 

techniques

Priority 2 

(P2) 

Benthic & 

Pelagic Ecol

- Fisheries dependent catch data with some biological data (e.g., size, 

age, health of fish) or life history information on priority fish species

- Status of fishery resources including distribution data, biology, 

management, fishery data, research vessel survey indices, and 

assessment results

- Species distribution maps

- Mollusk occurrence tabulation data in the Atlantic Ocean

Geology

- Data for ferromanganese nodules only

- Dataset containing total sediment thickness data

- Sediment stratigraphy data

- Deep-sea sediment core sample data

- Sediment data with mineral deposit data

- Maps of core and grab sampling locations with links to technical 

documents presenting sampling results

- Datasets containing mostly geophysical data but some geological 

components (i.e., vibrating core and grab samples)

- Seafloor topography data of a very limited study area within the OCS

- Marine sediment geochemistry data

Water 

Quality

- Datasets containing water quality data (e.g., dissolved oxygen, secchi 

depth, transmissivity, chlorophyll, phaeopigment, fluorescence, PAR, 

backscatter, nutrients, phytoplankton biomass) or a combination of 

water quality and physical oceanography data

- Study area locations, ship tracks, sampling station locations, plus 

routine meteorological and oceanographic data collected along the 

ship tracks. While the oceanographic data are mainly temperature and 

salinity readings, some chlorophyll measurements were included.

- Water quality data with suspended matter/sediment concentrations

Other

- Location information for human-designated management areas 

(MPAs, EFH, critical habitat) with no ecological data.

- Global-scale mapping and anthropogenic impacts based on modeling 

data
44 

A “B” code was inserted into the priority column of the spreadsheet for those web links with 

baseline data. Baseline data included, but was not limited to, bathymetry data, sub-bottom 

profiles, acoustic backscatter maps, side-scan sonar, Geological Long-Range Inclined Asdic 

(GLORIA) sidescan sonar or multibeam imagery, Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) data, 

and GIS shape files depicting boundaries of marine sanctuaries and protected areas. A “99” code 

was used in the priority column of the spreadsheet if the web link had its own spreadsheet. For 

example, while searching the NCCOS website, there was a link to the National Ocean Service 

(NOS) Data Explorer. The NOS Data Explorer website was identified as a separate website 

search and therefore had its own Microsoft® Excel® tracking spreadsheet. As a result, a “99” 

code was inserted into the priority column for the NOS Data Explorer row in the NCCOS 

spreadsheet. 

After all prioritization was complete, the spreadsheet and written protocols were submitted for 

QA/QC (see Section 6.0). 

4.2.5 Acquisition of Datasets

A total of 391 datasets were identified as P1 resources; however, not all datasets were readily 

available. If a project was applicable to the Resource Categories, within the project area, and 

assigned a P1 by the ISRT leader, the appropriate agency was contacted by phone, e-mail or 

written letter to obtain the data. All correspondence regarding data acquisition was recorded in a

Microsoft® Excel® spreadsheet or contact log. For each website with applicable projects, a 

contact log was generated that included the dataset name to be acquired, the contact’s name, the 

agency possessing the data, and details (i.e., notes, dates, etc.) regarding the data acquisition. If 

data were obtained, the corresponding row was highlighted within that website’s spreadsheet and 

a note was added including the agency name and date of acquisition. The data received were 

then evaluated for inclusion in the ESID. Attempts to obtain all 391 P1 datasets resulted in 

acquisition of 109 datasets (the remaining 285 datasets could not be acquired). 

The web links for all 391 datasets were added into the bibliographic entries in the ESID, similar 

to entries for the documents. The datasets themselves were not incorporated into the ESID to 

avoid redundancy, as the ESID provides direct hyperlinks to access and download the data. 

4.3 ACQUISITION DOCUMENTATION

The project required purchase receipts for documents in the ESID, showing documentation that 

all materials acquired had been legitimately purchased. The majority of ecological resource 

documents were acquired through inter-library loan. Per the standard established process, 

various libraries would either scan hard copies and provide the digital copy or directly provide 

the hard copy. Appendix J contains an example of an inter-library loan receipt acquired during 

the ESID project. These receipts had no impact on copyright permissions and were used solely 

for documentation of the transactions with the libraries. 

4.4 COPYRIGHT PERMISSIONS

Requests for documents from libraries and direct purchases from copyright holders came with 

restrictions. The acquired documents were for single-use only and could not be stored or 

released to another entity or could not be shared in a custom database or directory. Several 
45 

solutions were investigated to accommodate the storing of resource documents in the ESID and 

the release of the database to BOEM. The Copyright Clearance Center provided guidance

throughout the process but no resolution was found that would directly resolve the issue. As a 

result, copyright permission letters (requesting internal use in BOEM) were created and provided 

to all copyright permission holders for resource documents with copyright restrictions (example 

provided in Appendix K). These letters are the documentation that gives BOEM permission to 

use and store the acquired resources associated with copyright restrictions. Each letter contained 

a brief overview and history of the project and a list of titles, consolidated for each publisher or 

author (copyright permission holder). The letters specifically requested permission for 25 

BOEM scientists to be able to access the documents and for permission to store the document in 

the secure ESID. Correspondence was subsequently established with the publishers or authors 

requesting additional information about the project. A project narrative was provided and 

contained additional background information, history, project execution, and list the deliverables 

of the project. This approach provided approval to use and store 881 of the copyright restricted 

documents in the ESID. Copyright restrictions still remain for 1,406 acquired documents due to 

a lack of response to the copyright exemption letters or the publisher or author not granting

exemptions from copyright. These documents can be provided only to BOEM separately and not 

stored in the ESID.

A total of 431 resource documents did not have copyright restrictions (either due to being open 

access, open file reports, or available through a webpage for public download) and 

documentation was not needed to legitimize the use of these documents in the ESID. IBOEM

will have direct access to a total of 1,312 resource documents through the ESID database.

47 

5.0 RESOURCE PROCESSING

5.1 RESOURCE ANNOTATION 

All resources and references selected for inclusion in the ESID were exported to a Microsoft® 

access database for final clean up, quality assurance, and corrections. The literature resources 

were stored in a bibliographic style format in RefWorks®. The bibliographic data resources

were stored in a Resource Table, consisting of many different data fields in a bibliographic style 

format. This format was selected to easily cite and create bibliographies for the resources. Table 

8 shows all fields included in the Resource Table and a description for each field. Not all fields 

were annotated for each resource because some fields were applicable only for journal 

documents, book sections, or web pages. However, every entry was annotated for the following 

fields: ESID, Distribution, Reference Type, Resource Year, Author, Abstract, Location 

Description, Publisher, Language, Output Language, Source Type, and Acquired (Table 8). The 

Resource Table was the basis for all queries and was also submitted as a project deliverable, the 

Preliminary Data List.

Per the contract requirements in Section F.4.E, a Preliminary Data List was prepared and 

submitted to BOEM on September 22, 2010 (Appendix L). This list contained all resources to be 

incorporated into the ESID and included resource documents (literature or printed references) 

and web pages (electronic references) that had been reviewed by the ISRT and identified as a P1. 

All resources had bibliographic entries and were accessible through a Microsoft® Access® 

database (version 2002; Table 8). A Microsoft® Access® database was selected for delivery of 

the Preliminary Data List because it allowed the user to query database tables and create 

customized outputs. The database permitted the user to view a tabular list of all 3,108 resources 

to be included in the ESID (Table 9) and to filter the list using the following query features: 

• The “Reference Type” filter included all types of resources (e.g., abstract, book section, 

conference proceedings, dissertation/thesis, journal article, etc.).

• The “Source Type” filter included the formats of resources (i.e., print or electronic).

• The “Category” filter included all ISRT resource categories (i.e., demersal fish, coral and 

hardbottom, pelagic ecology, infauna/meiofauna, water quality, geology, and seagrass). 

• The “Distribution” filter included all copyright categories, such as open access, copyright 

restricted, and online. Open access allows the document to be stored and viewed in the 

ESID database; however, general use restrictions still apply. Copyright restricted 

documents are prohibited from being stored in the ESID database. Although the user can 

search and view the citation, the actual resource document is not available. However, a 

link is provided that directs the user to a purchasing location, should the user choose to 

purchase the document. “Online” refers to resources that are accessible for viewing 

online and are not restricted by copyright. Table 9 presents the number of resources in 

each distribution category. 

• The “Cost” filter returned resources with cost information or blank.

• The “Acquired” filter returned resources that have been acquired.
48 

Table 8. 

All fields included in the Resource Table within the Microsoft® Access® database.

Database Field Description

ESID Unique ID for the resource

Year Year resource was produced

Author Resource author name

Title Title of resource

Abstract Abstract of publication

Descriptor Keywords found within the resource

Notes Additional information about the resource

Reference Type Type of resource (e.g., journal, conference proceeding, etc)

Source Type Format of resource (i.e., print or electronic)

Periodical Full description of source periodical

Conference Date Date of conference, if applicable

Volume Volume of document

Issue Issue of document

Start Page Starting page of resource within publication

ISSN-ISBN Unique identifier for periodicals

Author Address Author contact information

Accession Number Sequential number given to new publications

Digital Object Identifier (DOI) Unique document identifier

Language Language in which the document was written

Subfile Additional associated files

Other Pages Other relevant pages within the publication

Series Title Title of the publication series

Publisher Publisher of the resource

Publication Place Place of resource publication

Links Hyperlink to documentation

URL 1 Primary web link to the resource

Cited Reference References the document cites

Category Search category in which the resource was located

Distribution Copyright category of the resource

Acquired Date the resource was acquired

Location Description Description of the resource location extracted from document

Extracted Data Attributed if there are tables of extracted data associated with the 

resource

After the filters are applied, the user can choose one of three output options to activate table and 

report views of the resource list in an easy-to-read format. The “View Table” option shows a 

Microsoft® Access® table fitting the criteria specified in the search or filter controls. The 

“View Abstract” and “View Location” options show reports with full abstracts and study 

location descriptions, respectively. 
49 

Table 9. 

Total number of resources in the Final Data List by 

category.

Category Count

Geology 699

Water Quality 433

Pelagic Ecology 662

Infauna/Meiofauna (Benthic Ecology) 397

Demersal Fish (Benthic Ecology) 438

Coral/Hardbottom (Benthic Ecology) 87

Seagrass (Benthic Ecology) 1

Web Links 391

Total Resources 3,108

Table 10. 

Distribution summary table presenting the number of 

resources within each distribution category.

Distribution Count

Open Access 430

Copyright Restricted 1406

Online 391

Use Permission Granted 881

A total of 2,717 documents and 391 datasets were assigned a P1 ranking. An attempt was made 

to acquire all of these P1 resources as provided in the Preliminary Data List. However, 173 of 

the P1 documents were not acquired for various reasons (i.e., unable to acquire, in a foreign 

language, only available in microfiche or microfilm format, or associated with an excessive 

acquisition cost). Of the 391 datasets, 285 could not be acquired. In total, 2,717 documents and 

391 web links were included in the ESID. 

5.2 GEOGRAPHIC CHARACTERIZATION

A GIS base map and detailed protocol were developed at the start of the geographic 

characterization task. The geographic characterization protocol provided guidance about how to 

judge what to digitize, and gives a hierarchy of preferred methods, depending on available 

information (Appendix M). The base map and protocol were shared with the GIS team so that a 

consistent approach was used by all staff involved in the extraction of location information and 

digitization of resource boundaries for P1 resources. Because of the volume of P1 resources and 

because a number of different GIS staff members were working on the resource boundaries, it 

was important that the geographic extents be drawn quickly, accurately, and consistently. Once

the P1 resources were acquired by the project librarian, the resources were processed to record 

geographic extents. After the extraction team studied the location, a decision was made whether 

the resource was actually in the project area. If not, no further processing was conducted on that 

resource. For study sites that are both inside and outside the project area, all locations were 

attempted to be digitized. For study areas that are well-known locations or geographic features 
50 

(e.g., Georges Bank, South Atlantic Bight), spatial templates were developed to estimate the 

extents of the studies performed in those areas. Resource locations that extend toward the coast 

were clipped to the coastline. If the geographic description was vague, an assumption was made 

as to the limit of the boundary, but, in these cases, the limit was assumed to not extend beyond 

the coastline or the EEZ. Occasionally, a resource appeared to be within the project area based 

on the description, but the location was so vague that it could not be determined. In this case an 

unknown Atlantic Ocean location template was used.

For each acquired P1 resource, the Document Control Coordinator recorded the available 

description of the geographic location from the resource and identified the most appropriate 

figure to use to digitize a boundary for a given resource. After the description and figures (if 

present) were recorded, the GIS digitization team used that information to create a spatial extent 

for a given resource. The geographic characterization guidance provided a checklist for the GIS 

digitization team to check the boundaries that they created. After the boundaries had been 

checked, they were loaded into a Spatial Database Engine (SDE). All of the resource boundaries 

were located in one feature dataset.

A series of Microsoft® Access® forms and tables were developed and used to facilitate the 

documentation of geographic locations. These forms served as a vehicle for communications 

between team members, and also provided a means to track and record QA/QC checks, and 

document any issues. The Technical Project or Task Managers preformed a weekly QA/QC on 

the descriptions and geographic extents by randomly selecting 10 % of the completed resource 

boundaries for that week. Weekly QA/QC meetings were held with the GIS digitization team to

discuss any issues that arose.

5.3 BIBLIOGRAPHY

An annotated bibliography was created for each resource document collected during the 

literature acquisition process. The bibliography also included a link to an online data source 

location (if available), a list of keywords, and abstracts containing summary information and 

results of the studies. Abstracts were not readily available for all resources collected. In these 

instances, abstracts were written by qualified personnel with backgrounds and experience in 

environmental and marine science. Documents (e.g., relevant book chapters, proceedings, 

technical reports, gray literature, and maps) with missing abstracts were thoroughly searched for 

key terms that identified the purpose, scope, methods, and results of the work. This information 

was often readily available in the introduction and conclusion. Sentences or phrases that 

appeared to be central to the work were highlighted and incorporated into the abstract in a 

concise manner. After the abstract was completed, a list of keywords was generated. The 

keywords were specific and identified the major topics (e.g., geography, subject matter, 

methodology, resource, etc.) and underlying theme of the study. 

5.4 DATA EXTRACTION

The ESID contract required that resource data extraction be conducted for the Virginia Lease 

Sale 220 and for other AOIs, as described in the Draft Proposed OCS Oil and Gas Leasing 

Program 2010-2015 (USDOI, MMS 2009). This data extraction was to be accomplished by a 

Data Extraction Team that included database, GIS, and scientific expertise in the areas of marine 

benthic ecology, ichthyology, marine botany, water quality, toxicology, and geology. During 
51 

discussions in June 2010, it was determined that a more cost-effective solution was to extract and 

store the data tables for the documents in question. 

GISbiz, Inc. was subcontracted to extract data tables from 1,155 PDF documents that intersected

with AOI polygons. Tables were extracted from 767 PDF documents and converted into 

document-specific Microsoft® Excel® workbooks. These workbooks had multiple tabs for each

table extracted from each document. Appendix N contains examples of the workbooks created. 

A well-defined quality assurance process was in place to review the documents internally prior to 

submittal to AMEC for final approval. During the QA/QC of the output of this process, AMEC 

discovered a number of PDFs with unreadable sections. AMEC rescanned the sections of these 

unreadable PDFs and resubmitted the PDFs to GISbiz, Inc. for extraction. 

AMEC reviewed each batch of tables based on a calculated sample size. The sample size was 

calculated such that 75 documents were inspected for every 340 document tables. The formula 

used for determining sample size (SS) subject to QA/QC was: 

Where:

Z = Z value (e.g., 1.96 for 95% confidence level) 

p = percentage picking a choice, expressed as decimal (0.5 used for sample size needed)

c = confidence interval, expressed as decimal (e.g., .04 = ±4)

The error margin was approximately 10%, meaning that if seven or more documents failed, then 

AMEC sent the entire batch of tables back to GISbiz, Inc. to be reevaluated and corrected. The 

corrected batches were resubmitted and reinspected using the same process. If fewer than seven

documents failed from the 75 sampled, then only the failing documents and tables were sent back 

for correction. Upon resubmission, the failed documents underwent evaluation by AMEC to 

ensure all errors were corrected.

Errors were differentiated between numeric errors and formatting errors. Numeric errors were 

considered only in the QA/QC process described above. Formatting errors were reported, 

corrected as noted, and adjustments to the process were made in order to improve product 

quality. Any errors reported (numeric or formatting) were considered iteratively. Special 

attention was paid to consistent errors as the process moved forward.

53 

6.0 QUALITY ASSURANCE AND QUALITY CONTROL

6.1 OBJECTIVES

The quality assurance and quality control (QA/QC) program was designed to ensure that: 1) 

ESID resources were collected in a scientifically defensible manner, 2) the ESID would perform 

in a fully satisfactory manner, and 3) errors would be minimized during the development of the 

database. For the resource collection and evaluation portion of the project, the QA/QC process 

was critical to ensure that searches were conducted consistently and comprehensively and that 

they accurately targeted relevant literature and datasets.

Jeff Albee, the Professional Practice Lead for Information Management Systems at AMEC, was 

responsible for the overall QA/QC elements of the project. The QA/QC program for scientific 

aspects of the project was led by Dr. Neal Phillips of CSA. Dr. Phillips was responsible for 

developing the QA/QC program, and the intermediate and final product reviews. The program 

involved close coordination with the project’s research librarian, web/database search specialists, 

and individual ISRT members. The following sections describe the QA/QC process executed for 

the resource collection portion of the project.

6.2 RESOURCE IDENTIFICATION

Each ISRT lead resource expert, in consultation with the research librarian, developed a list of 

keywords for literature searches (see Section 4.1.1). The draft keyword lists were reviewed by 

the QA/QC manager to ensure they were consistent, comprehensive, and accurately targeted the 

resource(s) of interest both topically and geographically. The result of this iterative process, 

which included the search logic, was tested in a preliminary search for each resource. If the 

search output was found unsatisfactory (e.g., an excessive number of search results, or irrelevant 

citations picked up because of a particular search term), the keyword list and search logic were 

revised by the research librarian and ISRT member and approved by the QA/QC manager before 

the actual search was conducted.

6.3 RESOURCE PRIORITIZATION

6.3.1 Prioritization of Literature Titles

The document title results from the initial literature search were screened by ISRT members 

using threshold criteria (see Section 4.1.3). The QA/QC manager reviewed the title screening 

process of each ISRT member to ensure that the threshold criteria were accurately and 

consistently applied. 

6.3.2 Prioritization of Citations and Abstracts

For literature titles that met the threshold criteria, the full citations and abstracts were 

downloaded and imported into RefWorks® for further evaluation. As described in Sections 

3.1.5, 4.1.3, and 4.2.4, the ISRT members developed a relevance matrix specific to each 

Resource Category to determine whether the document should be acquired and to prioritize the 

resources relative to one another for acquisition. The ISRT members assigned a priority value to 

each reference using the guidance provided by the appropriate relevance matrix. The relevance 
54 

matrices (and embedded relevance criteria) for each Resource Category were reviewed by the 

QA/QC manager to ensure that they consistently, comprehensively, and accurately prioritized the 

topics of interest for the particular resource.

The QA/QC manager also reviewed the ISRT priority value assignments for the citations/ 

abstracts. This review was conducted to verify that the ISRT members were correctly and 

consistently applying the relevance criteria in the prioritization process. Even with the most 

conscientious reviewer, there is a chance of making an error when rating hundreds (or thousands) 

of citations. 

Because of the large number of citations and abstracts reviewed and prioritized by each ISRT 

member, it was not practicable for the QA/QC manager to reexamine each one. For each 

Resource Category, the QA/QC manager typically reviewed 10% of the citations/abstracts within 

each priority value category (P0, P1, and P2). If no errors were noted, the QA/QC review ended 

there. If one or more possible misclassifications were noted, another 10% were reviewed. If no 

additional errors were noted, the QA/QC review was complete. However, if additional errors 

were discovered in the second 10%, the prioritized list of citations/abstracts was returned to the 

ISRT expert for review. This QA/QC process was repeated as necessary until the results were 

satisfactory. The following is an example of the QA/QC review results that occurred for the 

Demersal Fishes Resource Category: 

Priority P0 (187 total citations) 

• Reviewed 10% (n = 19) and found one potential misclassification

• Reviewed all remaining citations and found two more possible misclassifications

Priority P1 (396 total citations) 

• Reviewed 10% (n = 40) and found no errors

Priority P2 (235 total citations) 

• Reviewed 10% (n = 24), found one potential misclassification

• Reviewed 10% (n = 24) additional citations and found no errors (concluded QA/QC 

review at this point). 

In this example, the QA/QC manager contacted the ISRT lead resource expert to discuss the 

misclassifications. The ISRT lead resource expert agreed with suggested reclassification of the 

four prioritization errors. 

6.3.3 Prioritization of Datasets

As discussed in Section 4.2.4, each web link accessed during the website searching was 

documented by the data search coordinator and prioritized (P0, P1, or P2) by the ISRT. Because 

of the large number of web links and datasets identified, it was not practicable for the QA/QC 

manager to reexamine each one. For each website, the QA/QC manager typically reviewed 10% 

of the web link priorities assignments within each priority value category (P0, P1, P2, B, and 99). 

If no errors were noted, the QA/QC review ended there. If one or more possible 

misclassifications were noted, another 10% were reviewed. If no additional errors were noted, 

the QA/QC review was complete. However, if additional errors were discovered in the second 
55 

10%, the prioritized list of web links was returned to the ISRT lead reviewer. This QA/QC 

process was repeated as necessary until the results were satisfactory. The QA/QC process also 

included a QA/QC review of individual web links; generally, 10% of the links were checked to 

ensure they were working and corresponded to the entry in the Microsoft® Excel® spreadsheet.

6.4 RESOURCE ACQUISITION

After priorities were assigned to all identified resources, the project librarian developed a 

resource acquisition list and, with BOEM approval, attempted to obtain all resources with a P1

priority value (refer to Section 4.1.4 for details). A QA/QC review of the acquisition process

was conducted to ensure that the correct resources were fully and accurately transferred into the 

database. Each acquired document was examined and cross-checked against the list of P1 

resources to ensure that: (1) the correct document had been obtained, (2) the document was 

complete, and (3) the document was suitable for optical character recognition (OCR) scanning.

57 

7.0 GEODATABASE DESIGN

The ESID Geodatabase integrates elements of multiple databases that were used throughout the 

project for data management. In the ESID, portions of datasets or entire previous datasets were 

built upon through each step of data development. This section outlines the component 

databases used during geodatabase development and describes how each database contributed to 

the final version of the ESID Geodatabase. 

7.1 REFWORKS® 

As noted in Section 3.1.6, RefWorks® was used to develop the bibliographic database for all 

document resources incorporated into the ESID. The first step in the data design process was to 

review the RefWorks® data structure and assess its sufficiency as a structure on which the final 

database structure could be built. A RefWorks® website was established as the central location 

to house the bibliographic data collected for each document resource (Figure 9). While the 

bibliographic data were pulled from multiple sources, they were consolidated into a consistent 

format within RefWorks®. 

Figure 9. Screenshot from the RefWorks® website showing the bibliographic data for a relevant 

document.
58 

RefWorks® offers multiple export formats for downloading the bibliographic data from the 

website. However, not all available formats were useful for the ESID project, because some 

formats are specific to other commercial bibliographic software and others do not contain all 

the data fields deemed necessary for this project. Also, the “Ref ID” field is the only unique 

identifier for each record in the RefWorks® database and not all export formats preserved this 

ID. The “RefWorks® Extensible Markup Language (XML) Format” export was selected for 

the ESID export format as it offered the most appropriate and complete dataset output for the 

ESID project (Figure 10). 

Figure 10. An example of the RefWorks® XML format output viewed in Microsoft® Excel®. 

Figure 10 shows the standard database export structure; however, the field names have a coded 

value. Aliases were developed for the coded field names to make them more meaningful to the 

user (Table 11). The Alias field names were used in place of the RefWorks® field names 

moving forward into the database design. 
59 

Table 11. 

The RefWorks® field name codes and associated alias field names.

REFWORKS®

FIELD ALIAS

REFWORKS®

FIELD ALIAS

a1 Authors, Primary sf SubFile

a2 Authors, Secondary sn ISSN/ISBN

ab Abstract sp Start Page

ad Author Address sr Source Type

an Accession Number t1 Title, Primary

av Availability t2 Title, Secondary

cn Call Number t3 Title, Tertiary

cr Cited References u1 Category

do DOI u10 Planning Area

ed URL 2 u11 Date Searched

fd Pub Date Free Form u12 Inter Library Loan

id ESID u13 Paper Needed

is Issue u14 Location

jf Periodical, Full u15 Data Types

jo Periodical, Abbrev u2 Resource Type

k1 Descriptors u3 Distribution

la Language u4 Cost

lk Main Website u5 Remarks

no Notes u6 ISRT Review

ol Other Language u7 Priority

op Other Pages u8 QA-QC

ot Original/Translated u9 Receipt

pb Publisher ul URL 1

pp Place of Publication vo Volume

rd Retrieved Date yr Year

rt Reference Type

7.2 RESOURCE DOCUMENTS

As discussed in Section 3.6, all acquired resource documents were converted to a searchable 

PDF format for inclusion in the ESID. These documents were initially intended to be stored in 

the ESID geodatabase; however, for performance reasons, it was determined that these 

documents should be stored in a separate folder structure which is accessible via the ESID 

application. This arrangement also promotes the ability to manage the documents with an 

Electronic Documents Management System (EDMS). 

7.3 GEOGRAPHIC CHARACTERIZATION

As document resources were acquired, scanned, and converted to a searchable PDF format, the 

RefWorks® “Ref ID” was applied to the filename of the corresponding PDF document 

produced. The PDF documents were then reviewed in order to develop a “Location Description” 
60 

that represents the geographic location of the resource within the ESID project area. This 

Location Description was added to the RefWorks® bibliographic data for each resource. 

A Microsoft® Access® database, named “Geographic Characterization,” was developed to 

manage the Location Description information developed for each resource document. The 

Microsoft® Access® database served as a tool for tracking location maps that were extracted 

from the PDF documents. These location maps were used by GIS staff who were simultaneously 

digitizing the study boundaries as shapefiles to be incorporated into the ESID. The database 

served additional functions, including delegating workload among project members and tracking 

issues related to the digitization process. It also served as a quality control tool to check 

accuracy of the study boundary shapefiles. Several Microsoft® Access® database forms were 

developed to allow novice users to review and update data within the database. 

The Microsoft® Access® database contains a simple table structure, including the 

“GeoExtentTracking” table (Figure 11 and Table 12) that stores the data used in the next phase

of geodatabase design. The EcoSpatial ID or “ESID” (unique identifier for ESID database) and 

“Location Description” fields were the only fields used in later stages of the geodatabase 

process. All other fields were used strictly for work tracking purposes. The file name 

abbreviation represents the ESID number and the category. The category abbreviation was later 

dropped and only the ESID number used. In the location figure box, “NF” means no figure 

available for digitization. Alternatively “F” means a figure is available. The other abbreviations 

used (SH, DH, IS, LB) are initials of staff working on various aspects of data extraction.

Figure 11. Screenshot of a data form from the Geographic

Characterization Microsoft® Access® database.
61 

Table 12. 

 

Fields in the GeoExtentTracking table.

Field Description

Record: Unique identifier for geographic characterization database

EcoSpatial ID: Also called “ESID”, unique identifier for ESID database

File Name: PDF document name

Location Description: Location information extracted from PDF document

Location Figure: Code for type of location figure

Location Other: Other location information

General Remarks: Remarks about resource

Location Extract Initial: User Initials for location extraction

Location Extract Date: Date for location extraction

Figure Extraction Initial: User Initials for figure extraction

Figure Extraction Date: Date for figure extraction

QC Fig\Loc Initial: User Initials for quality control of extracted information

QC Fig\Loc Date: Date for quality control of extracted information

Digitization Initial: User Initials for study area digitization

Digitization Date: Date for study area digitization

Digitize Remarks: Digitization remarks

Boundary QC Initial: User Initials for quality control of digitized boundary

Boundary QC Date: Date for quality control of digitized boundary

QC Remarks: Quality control remarks

QA Date: Date for quality assurance

7.4 ARCMARINE

The ArcMarine data model is a Personal Geodatabase containing marine feature classes, tables, 

and relationship classes (Figure 12). ArcMarine was developed by Esri® with input from the

marine community, which Esri® defines as users that apply GIS to the coasts, estuaries, 

marginal seas, and the deep ocean, including academic, government or military oceanographers, 

coastal resource managers and consultants, marine technologists, nautical archaeologists, marine 

conservationists, marine and coastal geographers, fisheries managers and scientists, ocean 

explorers and mariners, etc. This data model was selected for use in the ESID for several 

reasons, including its applicability to the types of data being stored in the ESID, its potential for 

expansion for future BOEM efforts, and the significant effort previously spent developing the 

model. 
62 

“The ESID” refers to the system that incorporates both the database and the applications that 

display and query the database. The ESID database is a geodatabase design that merges the 

RefWorks® bibliographic database, the geographic characterization Microsoft® Access®

database, and the ArcMarine data model. During the desktop application prototype phase, the 

ArcMarine feature datasets, tables, and relationship classes were loaded into the AMEC 

Nashville ArcSDE Enterprise Geodatabase. At this point, the ESID geodatabase did not contain 

any data, only the ArcMarine structure. 

Figure 12. Feature datasets, tables, and relationship classes within the ArcMarine data model.
63 

The entire ArcMarine schema served as the base structure for the ESID; however, only one 

feature class, FeatureArea, was used for this project. The FeatureArea layer was one of the 

MarineFeatures layers, as shown in Figure 13. Because the ESID was intended for future 

expansion, and some of the resources include studies in other parts of the world, the World 

Geodetic System (WGS84) projection is used in the ESID geodatabase. The digitized resource 

boundaries were loaded into the FeatureArea layer after they passed quality control (Figure 14). 

This began the process of creating the spatial component for all resources included in the ESID. 

The FeatureArea layer also includes ArcMarine attributes (Table 13), additional attributes 

created specifically for the ESID, and feature level metadata. The feature level metadata 

consisted of revision date (REV_DATE) and data source (DATA SOURCE) fields added to the 

attribute table of the FeatureArea feature class. The REV_DATE field is the date the feature was 

created and the DATA SOURCE field has a value of “Digitized Other” as all features were 

digitized. 

Figure 13. The FeatureArea feature class within the MarineFeatures feature dataset 

(as viewed in ArcCatalog).

The ESID was required to provide metadata for all resources in the system. Metadata 

conforming to the FGDC requirements were created for each feature class within the 

geodatabase and described the geographic extents/location of each resource. The bibliographic 

data that were downloaded as a part of the bibliographic search were reformatted into a database 

table called the Resource Table. The Resource Table serves as metadata and contains all data 

exported from RefWorks® merged with the location description from the geographic 

characterization table. Table 14 shows the fields included in the Resource Table. Some of the 

RefWorks® fields were excluded from the final Resource Table because they were not useful in 

the ESID application. The excluded fields were used primarily during the data acquisition 

process, or were not populated by RefWorks®. The location of the Resource Table is shown in 
64 

Figure 15. Additionally, a lookup table, named ResourceFieldMap, was created in the database. 

The purpose of the table is to include Reference Manager® 12 field name aliases on exported 

reports of bibliographies. The ultimate goal is to load the bibliographic exports into Reference 

Manager® 12 bibliographic software. 

Figure 14. Geographic view of the FeatureArea layer, including the digitized resource boundaries.

Table 13. 

The attributes contained within the FeatureArea layer.

Attribute Description

FeatureID Unique identifier for table (ArcMarine)

FeatureCode Not used (ArcMarine)

Study_Site Name of study area derived from resource paper

ESID Unique identifier for resources

Rev_Date Date feature was created/updated (feature level metadata)

Data_Source Description of data source (feature level metadata)
65 

Table 14. 

The fields included in the Resource Table.

Bibliography Field Description

ESID Unique ID for the resource

Category Search category in which the resource was located

Distribution Copyright category of the resource

ReferenceType Type of resource (i.e. journal or conference proceeding)

ResourceYear Year resource was produced

Title Title of resource

Author Resource author name

Abstract Abstract of publication

LocationDescription Description of the resource location extracted from the document

ExtractedData Description of data extracted from a document

Descriptor Keywords found within the resource

Notes Additional information about the resource

Publisher Publisher of the resource

PublishPlace Place of resource publication

Periodical Description of source periodical

BookTitle Tile of Book

SeriesTitle Title of the publication series. 

Conference Date of conference if applicable

Volume Volume of document

Issue Issue of document

StartPage Starting page of resource within publication

OtherPages Other relevant pages within the publication

ISSNISBN Unique identifier for periodicals

AuthorAddress Author contact information

Accession Sequential number given to new publications

DOI Digital Object identifier: unique document identifier

CallNumber Library identifier for the resource

Language Language document was written in

OutputLanguage Current language of the document
66 

Table 14 (continued). The fields included in the Resource Table.

Bibliography Field Description

OriginalTitle Original title of the resource

SubFile Additional associated files. 

CitedReference References the document cites

Links Hyperlink to documentation

URL1 Primary web link to the resource

URL2 Secondary web link to the resource

SourceType Format of resource (i.e., hard copy or electronic)

Acquired Date the resource was acquired
67 

Figure 15. Added Tables location viewed in ArcCatalog, showing the location of the

Resource Table.

7.5 WORD SEARCH CAPABILITIES

The utility of the ESID is greatly enhanced by the ability to perform word searches of the 

database in addition to geographic searches. The ESID provides two basic types of word 

searches, both of which rely on the use of a database index table. The first type is a word search 

of the metadata contained in the Resource Table. This search can be conducted fairly rapidly 

because the Resource Table is relatively small in comparison to the size of the documents in the 

File Storage Folders. The speed of the Resource Table word search is also enhanced because the 

keywords used to locate and obtain the resources provide a defacto database index table. The 

second type of word search is a word search conducted on an advanced index of all searchable 

documents, allowing for rapid querying. Indexing resource documents is performed using 
68 

PDFBox and Lucene. These open source products provide the ability to extract content from 

PDF documents (PDFBox) and to create and search a full-text index of the resource document 

library (Lucene). This is a several step process and begins by using PDFBox to extract 

document content for each ESID resource document. This document content is related with the 

ESID resource ID into a document object class which is then indexed using Lucene. Lucene is 

used to index all ESID resource documents and retrieve all ESID resource IDs related to user 

provided search parameters.
69 

8.0 USER INTERFACE

8.1 DESKTOP APPLICATION

The ESID was initially envisioned as a desktop application designed to run as an extension to 

Esri® ArcGIS Version 9.3.1. This initial design approach was selected because the application

was expected to reside on the BOEM network and GIS users would use Esri® ArcMap® to 

interact with the ESID. A prototype desktop application was built and delivered as part of 

contract deliverable F.4.D “ESID Design and Prototype Test Database” to demonstrate the core 

functions required by BOEM. The prototype desktop application was provided to on March 22, 

2010 and a follow up webinar was conducted to walk all stakeholders through the application 

and database. The prototype did not contain all functionality of the final ESID, because it was 

designed to elicit a response for potential design changes early in the development process. This 

section describes the components and functionality of the prototype. 

The desktop ESID system was based on the following components (Figure 16):

1. File Geodatabase – The geodatabase would be built on the ArcMarine data model and 

would contain data developed from the obtained resources. Bibliographic and acquisition 

information were to be stored in the Resource Table. The digitized resource boundaries 

would be stored in the FeatureArea polygon layer. The Resource Table was to be linked 

to the FeatureArea layer by unique ID codes. The two components would be linked to 

the acquired files and spatial data. 

2. Esri® ArcGIS Map Document – This map document was designed to contain links to 

and display the resource footprints and other base map services. The map document was 

a Map Exchange Document (MXD), which is a map file format used by Esri® mapping 

software. These layers would contain scale-dependent rendering, which would turn data 

on and off at different scales. The layers would be symbolized in a logical way to enable 

the user to easily navigate to areas of interest in the map. 

3. ESID Extension – The application was to be bundled for deployment as an Esri® ArcGIS 

Version 9.3.1 Extension. The application itself would permit the BOEM users to query 

and manage the ESID Geodatabase and associated files from a toolbar within Esri® 

ArcMap®. From the toolbar, the users would be able to conduct text-based and spatial 

queries of the ESID Geodatabase. Both the text-based and spatial query results would be 

displayed in a Results Form. The user would be able to produce a report of the results, 

view resource documents, or view spatial data. An administrative function to import data 

into the ESID would also be provided. The ESID Extension Toolbar is described in more 

detail in Section 8.1.1. 

4. Resource Folder – This Microsoft® Windows® file structure contains all resource 

documents. Within the Resources folder, each numbered folder corresponds to a resource 

in the Resource Table. The folders contain the resource documents in PDF format and/or 

extracted tables associated with the resource.
70 

Figure 16. ESID desktop application showing file geodatabase, ArcMap® document, ESID 

extension, and Resources folder.

8.1.1 ESID Extension Toolbar

The ESID Extension Toolbar was designed with eight buttons (Figure 17) to interact with the 

ESID geodatabase, Esri® ArcMap® document, and the Resource Folder. The functions of the 

buttons are described in the sections below.

Figure 17. ESID Extension Toolbar.

8.1.1.1 Search Functions

The ESID desktop application was designed with the following search functions.

Search Text

The Search Text function (Figure 18) enabled the user to perform a text-based query of the ESID

resource information. For the prototype, this function only searched the bibliographic table. 

When the user entered a keyword(s), the function generated a list of all resources containing the 

search term(s). 
71 

Figure 18. The Search Text function of the ESID desktop application. 

Select by Radius 

The Select by Radius function (Figure 19) permitted the user to identify resources within a 

specified radius by entering point coordinates or by clicking a point in the map window. 

Resources intersecting the defined radius were displayed as Search Results. 

Figure 19. The Select by Radius function of the

ESID desktop application. 

Search by Polygon 

The Search by Polygon function permitted the user to draw a box in the map window to identify

resources. Resources intersecting the defined polygon were displayed as Search Results. 

Select by Feature

The Select by Feature function enabled users to select a feature layer in the table of contents 

within the Esri® ArcMap® map document. Resources intersecting the specified feature were 

returned. An example of the Select by Feature function is shown in Figure 20. 
72 

Figure 20. The Select by Feature function of the ESID desktop application.

8.1.1.2 Search Results

A Search Results window appeared on the user’s desktop whenever any of the search functions 

on the ESID Extension Toolbar were selected. This Search Results window contained five 

individual tabs, which are described below. 

Search Results Tab

Once a search function was performed, the list of matching or intersecting resources would be 

displayed in the Search Results Tab (Figure 21).

Resource Details Window

Selection of a resource in the Search Results Tab allowed the user to view all the data fields for 

the selected resource in the Resource Details Window (Figure 22). The Resource Details 

Window allowed the user to view long character strings (e.g., abstract field) more easily. In 

addition, if the user double clicked the Links, URL 1, or URL 2, the fields opened the associated 

web page in a new browser window. 
73 

Figure 21. Example of the Search Results Tab displaying the list of matching or intersecting 

resources.

Figure 22. List of data fields for selected resource in the

Resource Details Window.
74 

Attachments Tab

The Attachments Tab allowed the user to locate the document folder for a specific resource and 

view a list of files related to the resource (Figure 23). From the Attachments Tab, the user was 

able to open and review all available documents. 

Figure 23. Example of Attachments Tab showing a list of files related to a

given resource.
75 

Spatial Data Tab

The Spatial Data Tab was not functioning at the time of the prototype deliverable; however, this 

tab was envisioned as a location to view related spatial data (Figure 24). 

Export Tab 

The Export Tab allowed the user to generate a report of the search results in either Microsoft®

Excel® or Reference Manager® format for selected resources (Figure 25). The user could check 

or uncheck individual data fields to be included in the report. 

Figure 24. Conceptual example of the Spatial Data Tab showing spatial data. 
76 

Figure 25. Example of Export Data Tab. 

8.1.1.3 Import Data Function

The Import Data form on the ESID Extension Toolbar allowed users to upload and append new 

bibliographies in the ESID (Figure 26). The form required data to be in a RefWorks.XML 

format. 

Figure 26. Import Data Form on the ESID Extension Toolbar.

8.1.1.4 Help Button

The ESID Extension Toolbar also contained a Help function. The Help function directed the 

user to general help documentation related to functions of the ESID Extension Toolbar. 
77 

8.1.2 Esri® ArcGIS Map Document

The Esri® ArcGIS map document displayed the resource footprints and other base map services

for the user (Figure 27). The ESID resource boundary layers and additional base data layers 

were added to the document and appropriate symbology and scale-dependant rendering was 

applied. The ESID Extension could be loaded by each user and was available as a toolbar that 

could be turned on or off. Text-based searches conducted by a user displayed the list of 

corresponding resources, along with their spatial boundaries in the map document. 

Alternatively, a user could spatially search the ESID by selecting a polygon, applying a buffer, or 

specifying a feature (Figure 28). In this case, the intersecting boundaries would be selected and

the corresponding bibliographies would be displayed in the Search Results window. 

Figure 27. The Esri® ArcGIS map document showing results of text-based searches and spatial 

boundaries of those search results. 
78 

Figure 28. ESID desktop application spatial selection option. 

8.2 ESID WEB APPLICATION 

Shortly after developing the prototype desktop application, the ESID project team and the 

BOEM determined that the ESID would better serve its intended purpose by being accessible to 

users through the Internet. Internet accessibility would allow the ESID to be more readily

available to the BOEM regional offices and would also facilitate public access to the ESID. The 

general user, both BOEM and public, was assumed to have novice GIS skills. The web 

application was developed so that a novice GIS user could perform searches and produce reports. 

Higher level GIS skills are needed for some searches and uploading of resources; however, these 

skills are not required for general use of the ESID web application. A modification to the initial

contract was issued and the design of the ESID desktop application was revised for the 

development of a web application. This section outlines the components and functionality of the 

ESID Web Application. 

8.2.1 ESID Web Application Components

An ASP.NET website was implemented to control access to the ESID and to provide a 

framework for querying the database. The website is currently hosted in the Amazon EC2®

Cloud hosting environment. The website will permit an administrator to manage user credentials

and provide quality control on newly added resources. The website provides general background 
79 

information about the project as well as access to the ESID Web Map Interface which is 

described in more detail in Section 8.2.2. The ESID Web Application (Figure 29) is built upon 

the following components: 

1. ESID Geodatabase – Spatial data are stored in an Esri® (version 10) file geodatabase 

built on the ArcMarine data model. The geodatabase contains the entire ArcMarine data 

model for potential future use; however, only the FeatureArea polygon layer is populated. 

The FeatureArea layer contains the digitized boundaries from the loaded resources and has

layer-level and feature-level metadata in accordance with the FGDC standards. The 

FeatureArea layer was customized for the specific needs of the ESID. Additional fields 

were added to the attribute table to relate other components of the ESID and to provide 

more description information. 

2. Supporting Database – The supporting database is PostgreSQL 8.3 and contains resource 

bibliographic information and administrative data used to manage access to the website. 

The main function of the database is to store the Resource Table, which contains

bibliographic information for all ESID resources. 

3. Resource Document Storage – File-based documents are stored on a server-based file 

system. Full text, searchable documents are available and are indexed to allow for more 

rapid querying. The documents are queried and accessed via the ESID Web Application 

and can be downloaded by the user. 

The ESID Web Application links the digitized resource boundaries from the ESID Geodatabase, 

bibliographic information from the Supporting Database, and resource documents from Resource 

Document Storage using a unique ID. 
80 

Figure 29. Components of the ESID Web Application. 

8.2.2 ESID Web Application Functions

8.2.2.1 Home Page

The ESID Web Application Home Page (Figure 30) provides users with a general description of 

the ESID, the site requirements, and login options for authenticated and public users. It also 

provides links to a description of the ESID and to help documents. 
81 

Figure 30. ESID Web Application Home Page showing the Public User Login. 

The Public User Login allows users to access the ESID Web Map Interface without 

authentication credentials. The Public User Login limits user access to documents according to 

copyright restrictions. In addition, this login restricts data loading functions for adding or 

changing data in the ESID. 

Public User Permissions

• No account required 

• Log in through “Public Access” button 

• No log out required 

• User can view all citations

• User can view abstracts, bibliographies, and full-text documents only for Open Access® 

and Online Resources.

The Authenticated User Login allows authorized BOEM and BSEE users to access the ESID 

Web Map Interface by providing issued credentials for authentication. Users can perform text 

searches on all ESID documents, regardless of copyright restrictions. Authenticated Users can 

also load new data resources into the system, subject to Administrator review. 

When an authorized user is logged in, the Authenticated Login Tracking stores data in the 

Supporting Database for the duration of that user’s session. The Authenticated Login Tracking 

allows the ESID to limit the number of authenticated users who are logged in at a given time to 

25 users. User logout removes the entry from the database, allowing another user to access the 
82 

system. Additionally, this will remove the cookie from the user’s system, forcing that user to 

repeat the login procedure should they require further access. 

Authenticated (BOEM and BSEE) User Permissions

• Any authorized BOEM and BSEE personnel 

• Limit of 25 users logged into the website at one time

• Upon logout of a user, a new BOEM and BSEE user can login

• User can view all bibliographies and documents, except for those that are copyright 

restricted

• Resource Upload button can be accessed

• User can add resources to the ESID

Finally, a system Administrator can log in through the Home Page with additional data and user 

management capabilities.

Administrator User Permissions

• Capacity for multiple Administrator accounts

• Only one system Administrator can login at a given time

• Upon logout of an Administrator, a new Administrator can login

• Administrator can view all bibliographies and documents 

• Resource Upload button can be accessed

• Administrator can add resources to the ESID

• Resource Management (for editing existing resources and approving new resources) can 

be accessed

• User Management button (to Add, Edit, and Delete users) can be accessed

8.2.2.2 ESID Web Map Interface

The ESID Web Map Interface provides the displaying, searching, loading, and editing 

functionalities for the ESID. It is customized to query the supporting components and provide 

access to the contents of the ESID. The specific functionalities of the ESID Web Map 

Interfaceinclude searching and managing resources, generating reports, viewing resource 

documents and details, managing users, navigating and changing base maps, accessing additional 

map services, and accessing help documentation. 

After a user has logged in, a Disclaimer window will appear in the ESID Web Map Interface. To 

continue, the user is required verify agreement to the Disclaimer content by clicking on the 

button at the bottom of the Disclaimer window. The ESID Web Map Interface has standard 

panning and zooming map controls. The Coordinates/Scale Bar at the bottom of the screen 

(Figure 31) displays: (1) the map coordinates based on the location of the mouse pointer on the 

screen within the ESID Web Map Interface, and (2) the map scale based on the current map 

extent. The Base Map control at the top right of the screen is a set of buttons that allow the user 

to toggle between various Esri® base map services displayed in the ESID Web Map Interface. 

The base map selections include Oceans, Aerial, Streets, and Topo. 
83 

Figure 31. ESID Web Map Interface showing standard panning and zooming map controls (upper 

left), Base Map controls (upper right), Scale Bar (lower left), and the Coordinates Bar 

(lower middle). 

8.2.3 ESID System Functionality (Widgets)

Widgets are the extensively developed components of the system that provide the ability to query 

and report on the resource data, as well as to view related spatial boundaries and resource 

documents. The widgets are accessed through six individual icons located just below the banner 

in the ESID Web Map Interface (Figure 32). The following sections outline the functionality of 

the widgets in more detail. 

Figure 32. The seven widget icons (shown left to right): “Map Layers,” “Search by Content,” “Search by 

Location,” “Print Map Display,” “Identify,” and “Upload Resources. 
84 

8.2.3.1 Map Layers

The Map Layers widget provides the user the ability to view features supplied by the 

Multipurpose Marine Cadastre (MMC) map services. The MMC is an integrated marine 

information system providing updated ocean information, including offshore boundaries, 

infrastructure, human use, energy potential, and other datasets. The MMC map services are 

provided by BOEM and NOAA and are publicly available. The MMC data layers become 

visible in the ESID Web Map Interface when they are selected (checked) by the user from the list 

of available data layers (Figure 33). 

Figure 33. MMC data layers available using the

Map Layer widget. 

8.2.3.2 Search by Content

The Search by Content widget provides the user the ability to perform a text-based search of the 

bibliographic information and full text documents contained in the ESID. 

Search by Content 

Selecting the Search by Content widget opens a window where the user can enter search 

information (Figure 34). The Search by Content window contains a search terms text box where

the user can enter a term, or string of terms, to search for in the bibliographic data. The user can 

narrow the search by applying filters and field limiters. When a filter is applied, only those 

ecological references in the specified category will be searched. The Reference Type filter 

includes all types of resources (e.g., abstract, book section, conference proceedings, 

dissertation/thesis, journal article, etc.). The Source Type filter includes the formats of resources 

(i.e., print or electronic). The Distribution filter includes all copyright categories such as open 

access, copyright restricted, online, or permission granted. The search can be narrowed further 

by selecting individual Search Fields that correspond to data fields in the bibliographic database. 
85 

The user can search all fields or individual fields (e.g., title, abstract, keywords, etc.). The 

Search by Content window allows the user to perform a full text search of all resource document 

PDF files.

Figure 34. The Search by Content window accessed via the Search by

Content Widget.

Search Results Window

After the Search by Content widget is used to conduct a content search, the resulting resources 

are displayed in the Search Results window (Figure 35). This window displays the search results

(the list of resources that match the search request parameters). The search results are also 

displayed on the map so that the user can visually relate the spatial boundaries of the resulting 

resources. If the user determines that the initial search parameters resulted in excessive 

resources, the user can refine the search by entering additional search terms using the “Refine 

Search” button. Furthermore, the user can generate a report of the results and export the report 

to Microsoft® Excel® or Reference Manager® for future use. 
86 

Figure 35. The Search Results window accessed through the Search by Content Widget.

View Selected Features

When a record in the results list is selected, the corresponding resource footprint will be outlined 

in red on the map. The user can also zoom in to a closer view of the resource footprint on the 

map by selecting the resource in the results list and clicking the “Zoom to Selected” button in the 

Search Results window (Figure 36).

Details View

The user can view the corresponding resource documents using the Details View Form. When 

the user double clicks on a record in the Search Results window, the Details View Form is 

displayed (Figure 37). The Details View Form presents the full citation and abstract for the 

resource, along with the ability to open the associated PDF document (copyright restrictions will 

prevent viewing and downloading of some abstracts and documents). The user can also open the 

publisher’s website through the link provided at the bottom of the form. 
87 

Figure 36. The “Zoom to Selected” button available in the Search Results window. 

Report Generation 

The user is able to generate a report showing the search results and associated information. The 

resources listed in the Search Results window can be individually added to a queue of items to be 

included in a report by clicking on the “red plus” icon visible in the Search Results window 

(Figure 35). The “red plus” icon changes to a “green checkmark,” indicating that the result has 

been added to the report. Individual resources can be removed from the report by clicking on a 

“green checkmark.” The user can add all listed resources displayed in the results table to the 

report queue by selecting the “Add All to Report” button (Figure 35). If more than 250 results 

are added at one time, the user will be prompted to select report format and bypassing the report 

queue. The user can then export the report in either Microsoft® Excel® or in Reference 

Manager® format using the appropriate buttons in the Search Results window. Selection of the 

“Excel” button will generate an .xlsx document (Figure 38) and selection of the “Reference 

Manager” button will generate a .txt report (Figure 39) compatible with Reference Manager®

Version 12, which can be loaded into a Reference Manager® database for further use. The user 

can clear all resources from the report queue by selecting the “Clear All from Report” button 

(Figure 35). 
88 

Figure 37. Details View Form accessed through the

Search Results window.
89 

Figure 38. Example Microsoft® Excel® report generated using the

Search Results window. 

Figure 39. Example Reference Manager® report generated using the

Search Results window. 
90 

8.2.3.3 Search by Location

The Search by Location widget allows the user to identify resources that intersect a user-created 

geometry on the map. The Search by Location window has four tabs, each providing a different 

search option for the user: Basic Search, Search by Coordinates, Search by Lease Block, and 

Search by Shapefile.

Basic Search

The Basic Search tab allows the user to draw a geometric shape on the map to identify 

intersecting ESID resources. The first selects the type of shape to draw (i.e., point, line, square, 

or polygon), depending on the area of interest. The user can then specify a buffer distance (in 

miles) that will expand the boundaries of the user-submitted geometry. After the user creates a 

shape in the map window, a Search Results window opens, displaying a list of intersecting ESID

resources (Figure 40). In addition, the coordinates matching the shape created by the user are 

displayed on the Search by Coordinates tab (of the Search by Location box). 

Figure 40. Basic Search Tab window in the Search by Location widget. 
91 

Search by Coordinates 

The Search by Coordinates tab allows the user to specify a geographic search area by entering 

spatial coordinates (latitude/longitude) to identify intersecting ESID resources. The user can 

enter a string of coordinates to describe the vertices of a polygon or individual coordinate pairs to 

identify a point, line, or rectangle in space (Figure 41). In addition, the user can specify a buffer 

distance (in miles) that will expand the boundaries of the user-submitted geometry. Once the 

user specifies the coordinates, a Search Results window opens displaying a list of intersecting 

ESID resources.

Figure 41. Search by Coordinates in the Search by Location widget. 

Search by Lease Block

The Search by Lease Block tab can be used to identify ESID resources within a particular BOEM 

lease block. In this tab, the user selects the appropriate BOEM planning area, protraction 

number, and block number using the drop-down field sets (Figure 42). After the user selects the 

Search button, a Search Results window opens displaying a list of intersecting ESID resources.

Search by Shapefile 

The Search by Shapefile tab can be used to identify ESID resources within a pre-defined 

geometry contained in a shapefile (with a single point, line, or polygon). The Search by 

Shapefile tab contains an Upload and Search button that allows the user to input a shapefile with 

a user-created boundary (Figure 43). The geometry included in the shapefile is used to perform 

the search. The shapefile must have a projected coordinate system, which will be reprojected 

and used to intersect resources in the map interface. After a shapefile has been uploaded, a 

Search Results window opens, displaying a list of intersecting ESID resources.
92 

Figure 42. The Search by Lease Block tab in the Search by Location widget. 

Figure 43. The Search by Shapefile tab in the Search by Location widget. 
93 

8.2.3.4 Print Map Display 

The Print Map Display widget allows the user to print the current map view. In the Print Map 

Display window, the user is provided with text boxes to enter a map title and subtitle for the 

resulting map printout (Figure 44). After the print button is selected, the user will see a dialog 

box allowing a choice of printer options. 

Figure 44. The Print Map Display window accessed using

the Print Map Display widget. 

8.2.3.5 Identify Features

The Identify Features widget allows the user to view information about features included in the 

ESID Web Map Interface. After the Identify widget is selected, the user selects the type of shape 

to draw (i.e., point, line, square, or polygon), then draws in a specific location on the map. An

Identify window appears, displaying study boundaries of the intersected ESID resources. If the 

mouse is pointed at a result in the Identify window, it will be highlighted on the map and a 

separate callout window displaying the attributes (e.g., area, name, etc.) of the specified resource 

polygon will appear (Figure 45). If the user selects a result, the map will zoom to the selection. 
94 

Figure 45. Identify Search Results window accessed using the Identify Features widget and the 

separate callout window for specific feature information. 

8.2.3.6 Upload Resources

Authenticated users can upload new resources into the ESID using the Upload Resources widget. 

The resource information to be provided by the user includes all bibliographic information, 

supporting documents, and a resource footprint shapefile. The user must prepare the shapefile in 

advance and ensure satisfactory Optical Character Recognition (OCR) has been applied to the 

resource’s PDF document. Templates are provided to create consistent study boundaries and 

bibliographies. After the user selects the Upload Resources widget, an Upload Resources 

window displays a list of all resources the current user has uploaded but that have not yet been 

published to the ESID database (Figure 46). The user can edit the bibliographic information 

until the system Administrator publishes the uploaded resource. 
95 

Figure 46. The Upload Resources window, showing resources that have been

uploaded but not yet published.

Clicking the Add New Resource button opens the Add New Resource data entry form where the 

user types information for the new resource (Figure 47). The user selects the appropriate 

Reference Type (e.g., book, journal, abstract, etc.) from the drop-down menu. The choice of 

reference type changes the required information fields that are visible, because the fields 

necessary to produce a citation vary between reference types. The new resource will not be 

uploaded unless all required fields have been populated. In addition to the required information, 

the user can enter additional information associated with the resource (e.g., notes, ISSN/ISBN, 

Call Number, etc.). The user can also add an abstract or a location description, which is derived 

from the PDF document. Finally, the user clicks the Data Upload Button to upload the study 

footprint shapefile, PDF, and other related documents in .ZIP file format (Figure 47). Uploading 

these associated documents creates a folder on the server to store the documents related to the 

new resources. After the new resource is submitted, it is put in a queue for the system 

Administrator to review for content. The resource is not searchable in the ESID until the 

administrator publishes the resource.
96 

Figure 47. New Resource bibliographic data entry and upload form. 

8.2.3.7 Publish/Manage Resources

Figure 48 shows the process for submitting and approving each new resource. Though an 

authenticated user may add a new resource, the resource will not be visible through the ESID 

until the system Administrator has reviewed, approved, and published it. Throughout this 

process, the user is notified by email that their resource is pending review, and then again after

the resource has been approved or rejected. Upon submittal of the resource, two emails are 

generated: one to the user who submitted the resource and another to the system Administrator. 

Likewise, upon approval of the resource, two emails are generated: one to the user who

submitted the resource and another to the system Administrator. When the system Administrator 

rejects a new resource, an email outlining the specific data errors found during the review 

process will be generated and sent to the user. The user can then revise the submission and 

resubmit the resource to begin the review process again. 
97 

Figure 48. New resource submittal and approval process. 

The system Administrator’s review process involves evaluating the content of the submittal to 

ensure that the new resource is appropriate for the ESID and that the bibliographic information is 

complete. Next, the Administrator reviews the PDF document to determine if it is in OCR 

format or copyright protected and reviews the shapefile to verify that it contains the correct 

metadata and that the spatial boundary matches the information in the PDF document. The 

system Administrator then manually loads the shapefile into the ESID Geodatabase using Esri® 

ArcMap® Desktop GIS software. The system Administrator publishes the resource’s 

bibliographic information by logging into the ESID website and opening the Upload Resources 

widget. When the Administrator is logged in, this widget shows a list of all ESID resources. 

The Administrator can open the bibliographic information for a new resource, review it for 

content, and then click the “Publish” button to make the resource visible in the ESID application. 

The system Administrator can also use this same process to update the bibliographic information 

for existing resources. 
98 

8.2.3.8 Manage Users

The Manage Users widget provides the system Administrator a list of users who have 

authenticated login credentials. In the Users window (Figure 49), the Administrator can also add

new users and update current user information. 

Figure 49. The Users widget.

8.2.4 Help Documentation

The ESID Web Application offers various forms of user help. Clicking “Help,” displayed in the 

top right under the banner in the ESID Web Map Interface and various other places, takes the 

user to the full Help Documentation table of contents. From there, the user can navigate to a 

specific topic or function of the application (Figure 50). 

On each form or window, widget specific help documents can be accessed by clicking the “?” 

icon. If the user hovers the mouse pointer over various controls within the ESID Web Map 

Interface, Tool Tips describing the use and functionality of the control will display on the screen 

(Figure 51).
99 

Figure 50. Example of Help Documentation for Search Results window.

Figure 51. Search by Location Tool Tip

101 

9.0 CLOUD COMPUTING

9.1 NEED FOR CLOUD ARCHITECTURE

The ESID was initially envisioned as a desktop application, because it was anticipated that it

would reside on the BOEM network and that GIS users would use Esri® ArcMap® to interact 

with the ESID. However, the initially proposed desktop version would not be able to 

accommodate users in other BOEM regions because of slow application speeds experienced 

using Esri® ArcMap® through Citrix. The desktop application would also prevent public user 

access and input, which was one of the end goals in developing the ESID. 

The option to create a web-based ESID was investigated and it was determined that a web-based 

ESID would best meet the needs of the project and potential users. However, the process for 

getting approval for a web-based application through BOEM IT standards was cost prohibitive 

for the project and the application would most likely have been unable to support public users. 

Thus, the option of hosting the ESID in the Amazon EC2® cloud was the most appropriate 

solution within the given budget constraints. AMEC will manage the cloud-based ESID for a 

two-year maintenance period beginning in October 2011, following which BOEM or designated 

contractors will be responsible for the maintenance. Because the cloud provides a hosting 

environment that is independent of the BOEM and AMEC networks, the cloud will allow easy 

delivery of the application to BOEM once the maintenance period is complete.

9.2 DESIGN CHANGES FOR CLOUD DEPLOYMENT

The switch from the initial desktop application to the web-based ESID deployed to the cloud 

hosting environment required some basic design changes to the database structure. When 

development started on the cloud application, it was assumed that BOEM had an Esri® ArcGIS 

Server® Enterprise license for the geodatabase. In the cloud, a geodatabase must be built on a 

PostgreSQL database. Thus, when application development began, the Resource Table was 

loaded into a PostgreSQL database and the FeatureArea layer was separated as a standalone 

shapefile. It was then discovered that BOEM’s Esri® ArcGIS Server® License was actually a 

Workgroup version which would use a SQL Server® Express database. Since the application 

was mostly developed at this point, it was decided to retain the Resource Table and the 

FeatureArea layer as separate databases, rather than combine them into one geodatabase as was 

originally designed. 

The Resource Table currently resides in a PostgreSQL database and the FeatureArea layer was 

added back into the ArcMarine data structure and resides in a file geodatabase. The only change 

to the original ArcMarine data structure has been the inclusion of additional ESID-related 

attributes in the FeatureArea layer. The change in Esri® ArcGIS Server® licensing did not 

affect the overall function of the ESID application. The Workgroup license will provide a cost 

savings to the project. 
102 

9.3 ESID COMPONENTS IN THE AMAZON CLOUD

The “cloud” or cloud computing refers to the delivery of computing and storage capacity as a 

service through the Internet. Amazon was key in developing cloud computing to meet its own 

internal needs, and eventually moved to provide cloud computing capabilities to the general 

public through its Amazon Web Services (AWS) business line. Through AWS, Amazon has 

made computing and storage capacity available to rent on an on-demand basis. At its core, the 

cloud is designed to be highly expandable through a process known as “elastic computing.” 

Elastic computing provides the ability to configure a website or service to be scalable to meet 

user demands in times of high traffic volume or intense computational needs where distribution 

of workload improves performance. The ESID does not currently use elastic computing; 

however, it is an option available in the event that heavy ESID use degrades performance. 

Currently, the ESID uses two Amazon Machine Instances (AMIs). These AMIs are 

preconfigured virtual servers, which have operating systems and specific software pre-installed. 

In the context of the ESID, each AMI serves a specific set of purposes, and they are wholly 

dependent on one another. 

Figure 52 outlines the current configuration of the ESID’s architecture. The green rectangles in 

the center represent paired AMIs with associated Elastic Block Storage (EBS). Each pair serves 

a specified set of purposes and is dependent on the other in the context of the ESID Web 

Application. The Application Server AMI/EBS acts as the primary web server hosting the ESID 

web application (folder icon), all web services (triangle icon), and all resource documents 

associated with the application (folder icon), along with the PostgreSQL database which houses 

the resource data for the ESID Web Application (cylinder icon). The Esri® ArcGIS Server®

AMI/EBS pair is tasked with serving and storing the ESID spatial data for the web application. 

Figure 52. ESID Cloud Configuration.
103 

ESID administrators are capable of accessing the servers directly outside of the Web Application 

to support and manage all aspects of the ESID Application. Authenticated users of the ESID 

Web Application be able to access the web site and use the ESID to query the database and 

supply and manage resources while public users (non-authenticated) can use the ESID to query 

the database and resources. 

9.4 MAINTENANCE PERIOD

The ESID application will be maintained by AMEC for a period of two years (October 24, 2011 

to October 24, 2013). During this time, AMEC will be the system Administrator, reviewing all 

new resource uploads to the ESID. After the new resources are approved by BOEM staff, 

AMEC will publish the resources to the ESID. The workflow and processes associated with the 

maintenance period are described in detail below.

9.4.1 Workflow

During the maintenance period, BOEM users will be able to create and upload resources in the 

ESID Web Application. Each time a new resource is uploaded, the BOEM representative and 

the system Administrator will receive an email. The BOEM representative will review the new 

resource, decide if it is applicable to the ESID, and forward the email with an approval or 

rejection to the system Administrator. The system Administrator will then complete the review 

and publishing process. 

9.4.2 Review Process

The system Administrator’s review of the resource will entail the following. 

1. All bibliographic fields will be checked for appropriate information (i.e., no inappropriate 

language or incomplete data). 

2. External links will be checked to make sure the link is active. 

3. Required information will be checked based on the reference type (e.g., report, journal 

article, book, etc.) to make sure all information is filled out and that the citation format is 

correct.

4. The attached PDF will be checked to make sure that it is complete, searchable, and that it 

corresponds to the information filled out for the bibliographic information.

5. The shapefile will be checked to make sure the attribute table has been filled out and to 

make sure that it is in the proper projection to load into the database. 

6. Any other attachments such as data tables will be reviewed for completeness and to make 

sure they correspond with the resource. 
104 

9.4.3 Publishing Resources

Every two weeks, the system Administrator will log into the ESID to publish or reject resources. 

If a resource is rejected, the BOEM user who uploaded the resource will receive an email

requesting the missing or additional information needed for approval or informing them that the 

resource is not applicable to the ESID. Approved resources will be published to the ESID. 

The process for publishing the new resources requires a mix of remote desktop protocol (RDP) 

and file transfer protocol (FTP; Figure 53). Because the ESID is hosted in the cloud, not on 

AMEC’s network, the Administrator uses RDP to login to the cloud servers. The Administrator 

will copy the new resource documents from the “Resource” folder to the Application FTP folder 

on the Cloud Application Server. These document folders contain the searchable PDFs, 

shapefiles, and any other supporting documents. The Administrator will also export the 

supporting database to the FTP folder. The Administrator will then access the Application FTP 

site and download the Resource files to the AMEC network. This will be a backup for any new 

resources created in the cloud. The Administrator will add the shapefiles to the local copy of the 

ESID geodatabase and upload it to the ArcGIS FTP folder on the cloud GIS Server. The 

Administrator will use RDP to login to the cloud GIS Server. The ESID map service will be 

stopped, the geodatabase will be overwritten with the new copy from the FTP folder, and the 

map service will be restarted. Finally, the Administrator will log into the ESID Web application 

and publish the resources from the Upload Documents widget. The resource will then be 

searchable within the ESID and the spatial boundary will be visible in the ESID Web Map 

Interface.
105 

Figure 53. ESID Spatial Resource Boundary Publishing Process. 

107 

10.0 PUBLICATIONS AND PEER REVIEW

The contractual requirements of this project included: (1) formation of a Scientific Review 

Committee (SRC) to provide peer review for this document, (2) the presentation of the ESID 

project in at least one scientific meeting, and (3) the publication of at least one journal article in a 

relevant peer-reviewed journal to present the findings of this project. 

The ESID project was presented at several scientific meetings, including the following: the 

Association for the Sciences of Limnology and Oceanography Aquatic Sciences Meeting

(Madsen et al. 2011); Esri® Federal User Conference (Hearne et al. 2011); 26th Annual Gulf of 

Mexico Information Transfer Meeting (Hearne et al. 2012); 2011 Esri® Petroleum User Group 

Conference (Hearne 2011); BOEM Atlantic Wind Energy Workshop (Madsen 2011); and the 

Ecosystem-Based Management (EBM) Tools Network Live Demonstration (Madsen and Hearn 

2012). A publication manuscript, “EcoSpatial Information Database for the Atlantic Outer 

Continental Shelf,” will be submitted to the peer-reviewed journal, Marine Policy. This is the 

leading journal of ocean policy studies and frequently includes scientific papers on marine 

spatial planning and GIS planning projects, and it has a high impact factor (2.053). 

109 

11.0 CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

The ESID was designed to make ecological data for the Atlantic OCS readily accessible through 

advanced geographic and content data searches. It was also designed to support virtually 

unlimited expansion of geographic areas, subject matter, and file types. As a cloud-hosted GIS 

web application, the ESID provides broad access to the data and supporting documents and will 

help BOEM and BSEE meet NEPA requirements in its leasing decisions. 

The ESID Web Map Interface allows users to perform advanced searches by content and 

location, apply filters and refine search parameters, view citations and abstracts, generate reports, 

view documents (as allowed by copyright restrictions), print map displays, identify mapped 

features, and upload additional resources (subject to system administrator approval). The system 

is designed for future expansion to accommodate the integration of new data types and to cover 

additional geographic regions. 

11.1 DATABASE AND METADATA ISSUES

One of the critical elements of the project was the developing complete and descriptive metadata. 

The statement of work required the using FGDC standards for the ESID. The purpose of this 

metadata was to give validity to the resource data contained in the database and to provide a 

ready means for searching the bibliographic data for the resources. The project used the FGDC 

Data Content Standards for Metadata in developing the system. The GIS spatial data elements 

included full FGDC metadata, as outlined by the standard. However, the standards are designed 

specifically for geospatial data and the FGDC spatial data ontology is not readily transferrable to 

the metadata requirements for a bibliographic search. To accommodate the bibliographic search 

requirements of the system, metadata for non-spatial ESID data were incorporated into a 

Resource Table that includes the data typically associated with bibliographic abstracts and

relevant keywords that would serve as search terms for rapid word search.

In essence, the metadata standard for the bibliographic metadata were derived based on the 

RefWorks® data format, as extended by the project team to accommodate the special needs of 

the ESID. For future projects, it is recommended that further research is conducted to clearly 

define requirements across interest groups. 

11.2 COPYRIGHT ISSUES

As an integral part of the database design, the ESID required inclusion of searchable PDFs. 

Early on in the program, challenging copyright issues surfaced that had the potential to 

significantly reduce the use of the ESID. Although much of the scientific research in the world 

is conducted with public funding, the results of this research often end up in privately held 

scientific databases as copyrighted information; this limits public accessibility. Further 

complicating matters is the fact that the owners of most searchable public databases assert 

copyright protection over the document abstracts contained in their databases. These facts 

presented three problems to the ESID development. 

1. Proper ISRT reviewing the document abstracts for relevance required purchasing multiuser access to the abstracts, an expense not initially contemplated. 
110 

2. Document abstracts are viewed as an essential element of bibliographic metadata within 

the system. Use of the abstracts as metadata would require dissemination of the abstract 

information on a scale that exceeds normal fair use guidelines.

3. The full text of copyrighted documents could not be included without getting copyright 

permission from the copyright holders. 

To allow reasonable use of the abstracts, multi-use abstract permissions were purchased that 

allowed up to 25 users to view the abstracts simultaneously. This addressed both the ISRT usage 

problem and the long term use of the abstracts as a part of the ESID Resource Table. However, 

the problem of including the documents themselves still remained. The acquired documents 

were for single-use only and could not be stored or released to another entity or shared in a 

custom database or directory. 

During the summer of 2010, BOEM and the team explored a variety of options, including 

obtaining a license from the Copyright Clearance Center. None of the options would have fully 

resolved the document access problem. In December of 2010, it was decided to approach all 

publishers to seek copyright exemptions for BOEM. The project team contacted all publishers 

and provided a project narrative with additional background information, history, and 

information about project execution. This resulted in the approval to use and store 881 of the 

copyright restricted documents in the ESID. 

It is recommended that, in the future, resolving copyright issues is discussed in the early project 

stages and that a cooperative approach is explored for getting document permissions for ESID 

expansions or similar projects. 

11.3 LEVEL OF EFFORT REQUIRED FOR BIBLIOGRAPHIC SEARCH

The initial estimate of the number of documents that would be acquired was between 2,000 and 

3,000. In the end, this turned out to have been a fairly reasonable range. What was not 

anticipated was that over 30,000 documents would need to be reviewed for technical and 

geographic relevance to arrive at the final document set for the ESID. In the initial project 

estimates, collection of the document resources was estimated as a level-of-effort task, with the 

idea that once the allocated level of effort was reached, the resource data collection would end. 

However, it became apparent that the most important parts of the project were acquisition of the 

resource data and housing the acquired data in a robust database architecture. This included 

ensuring that proper bibliographic metadata were contained in the database and that the 

documents were properly geocoded to ensure that they could be searched geospatially. The 

assumption was that even if funds were depleted before the application was fully developed, the 

desktop prototype could be used to search the database until more funding was made available. 

The resource data collection effort resulted in a substantial overrun. This was mitigated by 

reprogramming funds and aggressively managing the remaining tasks in the project. 

For future bibliographic data collection efforts, substantial management reserve should be 

allocated to address the potential for cost growth in the document acquisition phase. 
111 

11.4 DATA EXTRACTION ISSUES

The initial scope included data extraction of a broad range of data relevant to specific AOI in 

order to make the data readily accessible outside of the resource documents. Early on, it became 

apparent that this task was ill-defined and, to a large degree, open ended. It was agreed that the 

data extraction task requirement could be met by extracting the data tables within certain defined 

areas. The team was able to develop a semi-automated process to accomplish this and the task 

was successfully completed.

For future research efforts, BOEM may elect to request that data tables be submitted both within 

the documents and in a separate Microsoft® Excel® file for inclusion in the ESID. 

11.5 CLIENT USER INVOLVEMENT

At the onset of the project, a number of stakeholders attended the project kickoff meeting and 

provided valuable input to the team’s understanding of the requirement. However, as the project 

progressed, the primary user involvement was limited to the COTR and the BOEM ESB sponsor. 

For future efforts of this type, it is highly recommended that the client designate a representative 

“user group.” This would be a group of potential system users who would have a significant 

responsibility of working with the design team and providing on-going feedback to ensure that 

the system meets the user requirements. In the future, new data will either be entered into ESID 

by BOEM users or, for larger projects, will most likely be accomplished through new contracts 

on a competitive basis. These larger projects would be considered through BOEM’s 

Environmental Studies Program as part of its annual studies development process.

113 

12.0 LITERATURE CITED

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2011 Esri® petroleum user group session descriptions. April 18–21, Houston, TX. Web

(accessed February 2013): http://www.esri.com/events/petroleum-energy/pdfs/2011-sessiondescriptions.pdf

Hearne, L., B. Fritze, and J. Sinclair. 2011. EcoSpatial Information Database (ESID) for the 

Atlantic Outer Continental Shelf. In: 2011 Federal user conference proceedings, January 19–

21, Washington, D.C. Environmental Systems Research Institute, Redlands, CA. Web

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2012. Proceedings: Twenty-sixth Gulf of Mexico information transfer meeting, March 2011. 

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Region, New Orleans, LA. OCS Study BOEM 2012-107. 349 pp. 

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J. Tims, A. Finio, M. Todorov, J. Ewald, J. Primo, L. Medley, D. Bigger, K. Skrupky, B. 

Hooker, B. Jordan and A. Dhanju. Atlantic wind energy workshop summary report. U.S. 

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Herndon, VA. OCS Study BOEMRE 049-2011. 78 pp. + apps. 

Madsen, K. and D. Hearn. 2012. Live demonstration of the EcoSpatial Information Database, 

Ecosystem-Based Management (EBM) Tools Network. Web (accessed February 2013): 

http://www.ebmtools.org/ecospatial-information-database.html. 

Madsen, K., B. Zimmer, D. Deis, A. Gelber, L. Hearne, B. Fritze, W. Sloger, J. Sinclair, M. 

Rasser, K. Metzger, and N. Phillips. 2011. Development of the EcoSpatial Information 

Database (ESID) for the Bureau of Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement 

Atlantic Planning Areas. Abstract book. Association for the Sciences of Limnology and 

Oceanography (ASLO) Aquatic Sciences Meeting. Web (accessed December 2012): 

http://www.aslo.org/sanjuan2011/files/asm2011-abs-web.pdf. 

U.S Department of the Interior, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management. 2012. Renewable energy 

programs. Web (accessed November 2012) http://www.boem.gov/Renewable-EnergyProgram/index.aspx
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U.S. Department of the Interior, Minerals Management Service. 2009. Draft proposed Outer 

Continental Shelf (OCS) oil and gas leasing program 2010-2015, U.S. Web (accessed 

December 2012): http://www.boem.gov/Oil-and-Gas-Energy-Program/Leasing/Five-YearProgram/2007-2012-Five-Year-Leasing-Plan.aspx. 

Wright, D.J., M.J. Blongewicz, P.N. Halpin, and J. Breman. 2007. ArcMarine: GIS for a blue 

planet. Redlands, CA: Esri® Press. 202 pp. 
 

115 

Appendix A 

 

User Story and Business Requirements
116 

REVISION HISTORY

Date Version Description Author

03/02/2010 1.0 Initial Draft Fritze

03/03/2010 1.1 Revision Wrye

03/11/2010 1.2 Technical Review Innes

03/15/2010 1.3 Revision Fritze

03/17/2010 1.4 Technical Review Chiasson

03/18/2010 1.5 Revision Fritze

03/19/2010 1.6 Technical Review Albee

09/23/2011 2.0 Major Revision (web-based) Bugg

11/18/2011 2.1 Revised User Story and Business 

Requirements 

Albee

11/21/2011 2.2 Technical Review Madsen

02/02/2012 3.0 Revised Business Requirements 

and added appendix A 

Fritze

03/15/2012 3.1 Revision Fritze

03/19/2012 3.2 Reviewed Business Requirements 

and added appendix A 

Albee
117 

INTRODUCTION

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) requires the ability to store, geographically 

reference, query, and retrieve digital ecological resources. This will be achieved through the 

creation of an application containing GIS enabled ecological resource documents called the 

EcoSpatial Information Database (ESID). This document expands on this high level 

requirements statement by providing an overview of the informational delivery, resource 

management, and operational requirements to deliver an application that meets the needs of the 

BOEM. Based on these statements two components are required:

A database, the ESID, to manage and store ecological resources and GIS database, and

An application, to allow the user to search and retrieve resource documents including report 

generation. 

The following sections present the high level description of the system and the associated 

business requirements that the system must provide.
118 

USER STORY

The EcoSpatial Information Database (ESID) is a collection of ecological resources for the U.S. 

outer continental shelf of the Atlantic Ocean. The ESID is a searchable library of spatially 

referenced ecological information with easy access through a map interface. It is intended to be 

unlimited in the geographic area and the amount of information it can support. This first project 

will create the ESID and populate it with a significant amount of ecological information from the 

North, Mid-, and South Atlantic Planning Areas. The database contains location information and 

related attributes derived from research studies and pre-existing information available through 

public and private sources. The ESID will house PDF files of study reports, journal articles, 

book chapters, etc related to marine ecology. Full reference citations will reside in an annotated 

bibliography. When available, it will also include data files, images, GIS files, and other 

products associated with those resources. Some resources may not include a report but may be 

only GIS files, Microsoft® PowerPoint presentations, maps, etc. Each resource will have 

associated metadata and a shapefile showing the study area footprint or sampling sites. The 

system is designed to accept any type of file (e.g., PDF, Microsoft® Excel®, Microsoft® Word, 

html, ASCII, ppt, jpeg, D-base, SPSS, Primer, GIS, etc); the end user is responsible for their 

ability to open the files and deciding the value of the information for their purposes. 

The ESID also refers to an application that will be used to search, manage, and report on the data 

contained within the database. These tools and corresponding data will operate in a mapping 

environment in order to leverage the benefits of visualizing the data in conjunction with the 

BOEM planning areas and lease block area information. The ESID will have a map interface 

and search engine. It is not intended to display data on a map, but rather to provide easy access 

to the information. The map interface will display base layers with the option to display GIS 

footprints of subject categories or perform various searches. The end user will be able to draw a 

point, line, or polygon on the map to retrieve all files associated with that geographic area. 

Alternatively, the user can import and overlay a shapefile to search for resources that intersect 

with the shapefile. The interface will also provide tools to search the database directly via 

keywords, subjects, authors, etc. The system will provide the ability to refine searches. The 

intent is for PDF files to be fully character recognized so that full-text word searches are 

possible. All fields in the database will be searchable. The result of a search will be a table with 

links to all the associated documents and/or links to internet sources. The ESID will provide the 

ability for authorized users to upload and manage resources. Users will also have the ability to 

download the selected files and output information. The user will be able to export files of 

bibliographic information to Microsoft® Excel® files and to a format compatible with Reference 

Manager 12. Finally, help documentation will be accessible through the application. 

The original ESID application was designed based as an ArcMap desktop extension. Details 

describing this application can be found in project documentation Deliverable D, ESID Design 

and Prototype Test Database per Section F.4. During the development of the ESID system, it has 

become apparent that the location and diversity of potential users dictate a more accessible 

implementation such as a web-based application. To that end, AMEC provided the Contracting 

Officer’s Technical Representative (COTR) with a proposal to implement a web-based 

application hosted in the Amazon EC2 Cloud. From the approved proposal and subsequent 
119 

Modification 0002 for Contract No. M09PC00047 (See Appendix A) AMEC has developed the 

following business requirements for the Web-based Cloud ESID Application. 
120 

BUSINESS REQUIREMENTS DETAIL

This section outlines the business requirements of the application as listed in the user description:

Table 1.

Business Requirement Description

BR Id Business Requirement Description

Information Delivery

BR-1a View resource boundaries overlaid with Multipurpose Marine Cadastre base map 

features and BOEM planning areas and lease blocks.

BR-1b Search for resources within a user defined geographic extent or the radius of a 

point as interactively defined by the user and display the results.

BR-1c Search for resources within a user defined geographic extent as retrieved from a 

user supplied Shapefile, and display the results.

BR-1d Search for resources based on selections of lease blocks or other predefined areas 

of interest, and display the results.

BR-1e Search for resources matching a user defined text search to the bibliographic 

database, and display the results.

BR-1f Search for resources (full document scan) matching a user defined text search, 

and display the results.

BR-1g Refine the user’s search results with sub-queries.

BR-1h View references, citations, and documents associated with a map resource.

BR-1i Download selected resource files (Documents and associated data)

BR-1j Generate reports based on selected resources in the search results table.

BR-1k Export results of a query to a Reference Manager 12 compatible file.

Resource Management

BR-2a Create a bibliographic entry for a resource by completing an online form.

BR-2b Upload resource documents and additional supporting files for a resource.

BR-2c Create a geographic boundary which is linked to resource document(s) and 

bibliographic entry(s)

BR-2d A designated “Gate Keeper” will review resource information before inclusion in 

the ESID.
121 

Table 1 (continued). Business Requirement Description

BR Id Business Requirement Description

Operational

BR-3a Will be a hosted web application.

BR-3b Contain a GIS component with navigation control functions.

BR-3c Store spatial data in a File geodatabase.

BR-3d Store bibliographic data in a database.

BR-3e Provide the user with help documentation and user guide.

BR-3f Administrative component to create and manage user accounts.

BR-3g User authentication will be required to create resources, and view copyrighted 

materials.

BR-3h Non-authenticated (public) users will have restricted access, unable to view 

“Permission Granted” or "Copyrighted" documents. 

BR-3i Restrict authenticated access to 25 concurrent BOEM/BSEE staff
122 

CONTRACT MODIFICATION

Task 10: Create Custom ArcGIS Server® Web Interface

The Contractor shall interface the SDE Geodatabase through a web-based map interface (e.g., 

Esri® ArcGIS Server® 10) with hosting in “the cloud” to access the data in the ESID system. 

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) defines cloud computing as “...a 

model for enabling convenient, on-demand network access to a shared pool of configurable 

computing resources (e.g., networks, servers, storage, applications, and services) that can be 

rapidly provisioned and released with minimal management effort or service provider 

interaction.” Detail for production and implementation of ESID in the cloud shall be coordinated 

with and submitted for review and approval with BOEMRE through the COR. This product 

shall be due thirty (30) months after award.

A preliminary version of the ESID application shall be available at twenty-four (24) months after 

award. The preliminary ESID application shall have the following functionality: 

Viewing, navigation, textual and spatial searching (by drawing an area of interest on the map or 

searching for keywords in the database) and basic report generation. 

 

The final deliverable shall include the functionality of login for viewing “permission granted” 

resources, full text search of documents, and data loading capabilities. 

The Contractor shall maintain the system in the cloud for BOEM for a period of two years from 

the date of its debut on the internet. This maintenance shall include overseeing the process by 

which new content is incorporated into the ESID, but will not include developing new content. 

The web application shall have the functionality that was to have been developed in the 

previously planned desktop application including the ability to search resource documents, return 

selected resource boundaries, and display bibliographic information. Access to the site shall not 

be password protected and the public shall be able to access the ESID functions; the public shall 

be able to search, view, and download resources from the database, including resources, resource 

boundaries, bibliographic information, and metadata, subject to the restrictions of copyright. 

Authorized users shall have log-in credentials to enable them to view “copyright restricted” 

information to the extent that limited permissions are provided in the ESID, subject to the 

restrictions of copyright.

Provide access to all the relevant ecological data by clicking on the applicable feature in the map 

interface. This ecological data includes any data in other linked tables, bibliographical 

information, metadata, documents, etc. 

Provide public access to the ESID database with restricted access to any included copyright 

protected resources in accordance with copyright. 

Provide geographic search capability, i.e., the user can select an area or a polygon to return all 

data associated with the area selected. Incorporate the ability to refine search results.
123 

Provide a textual search capability based on predefined and/or user specified queries using 

keywords related to specific areas of scientific inquiry. This would include the ability to search 

using multiple criteria including specific scientific terms, author and date and keyword, publisher 

and keyword, date range, etc. The web applications shall utilize the base map data currently 

maintained on the BOEM SDE Enterprise Geodatabase to enhance the base map and represent 

ecological data.

Generate reports of bibliographic information associated with selected geographic areas with the 

option to choose fields. 

Provide the ability to search and browse the database tables directly.

Document instructions for using the ESID Interface.

Create a user's guide.

Create help pages. 

Provide any other relevant documentation 

Adhere to BOEM security standards as relevant.

Consult with the COR for approval of the application design and functionality. 

125 

Appendix B

Guidelines for Preparing Keywords

127 

Keywords are used to locate a document in a document-retrieval system, i.e., they are words or 

phrases useful when indexing or searching for a document. Keywords should identify the major 

topics and underlying theme of a document as well as the field or discipline to which the 

document corresponds. 

If a document does not have keyword tags available, provide a list of keywords for the 

document. 

Choose keywords commonly used for corresponding discipline or industry. 

Keywords should be specific and involve standard phrases.

Browsing a journal relevant to the document being reviewed can provide indications of which 

keywords are appropriate and which are not. 

Use keywords from a standard list* specific to a journal or discipline, if one is available.

Provide 5 to 10 keywords, depending on the size of the document. More keywords may be better 

for a large document with multiple chapters or a range of subject matters.

Generally, provide keywords from the title of the document as well as keywords that relate to: 

geography (e.g., provide geographic descriptors**), 

subject matter (e.g., provide topical descriptors***),

methodology (e.g., provide sampling or analytical descriptors ), 

resource(s) (e.g., provide environmental resource descriptors** ***),

type of document (if appropriate), and 

time frame (if this is significant).

* - if the document was retrieved from a database during a search for a set of keywords 

developed for a specific topic area, keywords from that list could be used. 

** - may include planning area designations, area descriptions [e.g., South Atlantic Bight], and 

submarine features [e.g., DeSoto Canyon]). 

*** - may include disciplines such as chemistry, biology, geology, ecology, fisheries. 

  - may include box core, Van Veen grab, otter trawl, or sediment analysis. 

** *** - may include benthos, soft bottom, infauna, or water quality. 

129 

Appendix C

Dialog Databases

131 

ASFA (Aquatic Sciences and Fisheries Abstracts)

ASFA is the premier reference in the field of aquatic resources. Input to ASFA is provided by a 

growing international network of information centers monitoring more than 5,000 serial 

publications, books, reports, conference proceedings, translations, and limited distribution 

literature. ASFA is a component of the Aquatic Sciences and Fisheries Information System 

(ASFIS), formed by four United Nations agency sponsors of ASFA and a network of 

international and national partners. 

BIOSIS Previews®

BIOSIS Previews® contains citations from Biological Abstracts® (BA) and Biological 

Abstracts/Reports, Reviews, and Meetings® (BA/RRM) (formerly BioResearch Index®), the 

major publications of BIOSIS®. Together, these publications constitute the major Englishlanguage service providing comprehensive worldwide coverage of research in the biological and 

biomedical sciences. BA includes approximately 350,000 accounts of original research yearly 

from nearly 5,000 primary journal and monograph titles. BA/RRM includes an additional 

200,000+ citations a year from meeting abstracts, reviews, books, book chapters, notes, letters, 

and selected reports.

Dissertation Abstracts Online

Dissertation Abstracts Online is a definitive subject, title, and author guide to virtually every 

American dissertation accepted at an accredited institution since 1861. Selected Masters Theses

have been included since 1962. In addition, since 1988, the database includes citations for 

dissertations from 50 British universities that have been collected by and filmed at the British 

Document Supply Centre. Beginning with DAIC Volume 49, Number 2 (Spring 1988), citations 

and abstracts from Section C, Worldwide Dissertations (formerly European Dissertations), have 

been included in the file. 

Enviroline® 

Enviroline® covers the world's environmental related information. It provides indexing and 

abstracting coverage of more than 1,000 international primary and secondary publications 

reporting on all aspects of the environment. These publications highlight such fields as 

management, technology, planning, law, political science, economics, geology, biology, and 

chemistry as they relate to environmental issues. Enviroline® corresponds to the print, 

Environment Abstracts. 
132 

Geoarchive®

GeoArchive® is a comprehensive database covering all types of information sources in 

geoscience, hydroscience, and environmental science. The criteria for inclusion in GeoArchive®

are that the source should be publicly available and have relevant information content, even if the 

reference is to a small news item in a magazine. GeoArchive®, produced by Geosystems, 

provides international coverage of over 5,000 serials, books from over 2,000 publishers, 

geological maps, and doctoral dissertations. 

GEOBASETM

GEOBASETM is a unique multidisciplinary database supplying bibliographic information and 

abstracts for development studies, the Earth sciences, ecology, geomechanics, human geography, 

and oceanography. The database provides current coverage of almost 2,000 international 

journals, including both peer-reviewed titles and trade publications, and provides archival 

coverage of several thousand additional journal titles and books. GEOBASETM is unequalled in 

its coverage of international literature of the core scientific and technical periodicals. 

GEOBASETM has a unique coverage of non-English language and less readily available 

publications including books, conference proceedings, and reports, making this the best resource 

available for multidisciplinary searches of international literature.

GeoRef®

GeoRef®, the database of the American Geosciences Institute (AGI), covers worldwide technical 

literature on geology and geophysics. GeoRef® corresponds to the print publications: 

Bibliography and Index of North American Geology, Bibliography of Theses in Geology, and 

the Geophysical Abstracts, Bibliography and Index of Geology Exclusive of North America. 

GeoRef® organizes and indexes papers from more than 13,000 serials and other publications 

representative of the interests of the 50 professional geological and earth science societies that 

are members of the AGI. GeoRef® is international in coverage with about 40% of the indexed 

publications originating in the United States and the remainder from outside the U.S. 

Publications of international organizations represent about 7% of the file. The database includes 

current coverage of more than 3,500 journals as well as books and book chapters, conference 

papers, government publications, theses, dissertations, reports, maps, and meeting papers. 

Inside Conferences 

Inside Conferences is produced by the British Library. The database contains details of all 

papers given at every congress, symposium, conference, exposition, workshop, and meeting 

received at the British Library Document Supply Centre (BLDSC) since October 1993. Each 

year over 16,000 proceedings are indexed, covering a wide range of subjects published as serials 

or monographs. Over 500,000 bibliographic citations for individual conference papers will be 

added annually. Most records are in English, with many languages represented in the source 

documents. 
133 

NTIS (National Technical Information Service)

The NTIS database comprises summaries of U.S. Government-sponsored research, development, 

and engineering, plus analyses prepared by federal agencies, their contractors, or grantees. It is 

the means through which unclassified, publicly available, unlimited distribution reports are made 

available for sale from agencies such as the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, 

Department of Defense, Department of Energy, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban 

Development, Department of Transportation, Department of Commerce, and some 240 other 

agencies. Additionally, some state and local government agencies contribute summaries of their 

reports to the database. NTIS is the lead U.S. Government agency for cooperation in 

international technical information exchange, and receives information from the National 

Aerospace Laboratory in Japan, Micromedia in Canada, among others. 

Oceanic Abstracts

Oceanic Abstracts is focused exclusively on worldwide technical literature pertaining to the 

marine and brackish-water environment. The journal has long been recognized as a leading 

source of information on topics relating to oceans. It focuses on and is totally comprehensive in 

its coverage of marine biology and physical oceanography, fisheries, aquaculture, non-living 

resources, meteorology and geology, plus environmental, technological, and legislative topics. 

Scisearch®

SciSearch®: A Cited Reference Science Database is an international, multidisciplinary index to 

the literature of science, technology, biomedicine, and related disciplines produced by Thomson 

Scientific. SciSearch® contains all of the records published in the Science Citation Index®

(SCI®), plus additional records in engineering technology, physical sciences, agriculture, 

biology, environmental sciences, clinical medicine, and the life sciences. SciSearch® indexes all 

significant items (articles, review papers, meeting abstracts, letters, editorials, book reviews, 

correction notices, etc.) from more than 6,100 international scientific and technical journals.

Zoological Record Online® 

Zoological Record Online®, currently published by Thomson Scientific, formerly BIOSIS and 

the Zoological Society of London until 2004, is the world's most comprehensive index to 

zoological and animal science literature. Records cover every aspect of zoology, including 

biochemistry, behavior, ecology, evolution, genetics, etc., with particular emphasis on 

biodiversity and systematic/taxonomic information. More than 5,000 international serials plus 

approximately 1,500 non-serial publications are currently monitored, including professional 

journals, magazines, newsletters, monographs, books, reviews, and conference proceedings. The 

database corresponds to the printed index, Zoological Record®, and includes thorough subject 

indexing in both controlled- and natural-language format, complimented by an online thesaurus. 

135 

Appendix D

Literature Search Statements

137 

Set 1:

SS coral? OR reef? OR hardbottom OR (hard OR rocky)()bottom OR livebottom OR 

live()bottom OR hardground or hard()ground OR bioherm? OR octocoral? OR gorgonian? OR 

Antipatharia? OR cnidaria? Or Desmophyllum OR Goniocorella? OR Leptogorgia? OR Lophelia 

OR Oculina OR Madrepora OR Paragorgia OR Solenosmilia 

Set 2:

SS outcrop? OR pinnacle? OR ridge? OR rock? OR canyon? OR escarpment? OR scarp? OR 

seamount? OR boulder?

 

Set 3:

Benth? OR epibenth? OR biota? OR epibiot? OR epifauna? OR epiflora? OR (alga? NOT 

(coast? OR estuar?))

Set 4:

SS western()north()atlantic OR (Atlantic()Ocean AND (Maine OR Massachusetts OR 

Connecticut OR Rhode()Island OR Delaware OR Maryland OR Virginia OR Georgia OR 

Florida OR New()(Hampshire OR Jersey OR York) OR (North OR South)()Carolina)) OR ((east 

OR northeast? OR southeast?) (1n) coast AND (US OR USA OR United()States))

Set 5:

SS (Chesapeake OR new()york OR atlantic OR midatlantic)(1n)bight OR georges()bank OR 

gulf(1n)maine OR Jordan()basin OR blake(2n)(plateau OR spur OR escarpment) OR cape()(cod 

OR may OR fear OR lookout) OR Delmarva OR Hatteras OR Carolinas OR outer()banks OR 

Charleston()bump OR Stellwagen()bank NOT (Florida(3n)(Key or keys))

(Set 1 OR (Set 2 AND Set 3)) AND (Set 4 OR Set 5)

139 

Set 1:

SS western()north()atlantic OR (Atlantic()Ocean AND (Maine OR Massachusetts OR 

Connecticut OR Rhode()Island OR Delaware OR Maryland OR Virginia OR Georgia OR 

Florida OR New()(Hampshire OR Jersey OR York) OR (North OR South)()Carolina)) OR (east 

OR northeast? OR southeast?) (1n) coast AND (US or USA or United()States)

Set 2: 

SS (Chesapeake or new()york or atlantic or midatlantic)(1n)bight or georges()bank or 

gulf(1n)maine or Jordan()basin or blake(2n)(plateau or spur or escarpment) or cape()(cod or may 

or fear or lookout) or Delmarva or Hatteras or Carolinas or outer()banks 

Set 3:

SS fish or fishes or ichthyofauna? or groundfish? Or bottomfish? 

Set 4:

SS benth? or trawl? Or video or hook(1n)line or camera or baited()trap? Or demersal or reef? Or 

marmap or (hard or live)()bottom or continental()(shelf or slope or rise) or abyss? Or canyon?

(Set 1 or Set 2) AND (Set 3 or Set 4)
140 

Set 1:

SS geomorph? Or geochemi? Or stratigraph? or (ridge(1n)swale) OR sediment? Or bedform? or 

turbidite? Or biostrome? Or micrite? Or basalt or pore()water(2n)flux? Or leveed()fan()valley? 

Or boundstome? Or mass()(wasting or movement) or sand()(ridge? Or bank?) or scarp? or 

continental()margin OR alluvial()(fan OR fans) OR disconformity OR fault? OR guyot? OR 

seamount? OR igneous()rock? OR ripple()mark? OR sand()wave? 

Set 2:

SS western()north()atlantic OR (Atlantic()Ocean AND (Maine OR Massachusetts OR 

Connecticut OR Rhode()Island OR Delaware OR Maryland OR Virginia OR Georgia OR 

Florida OR New()(Hampshire OR Jersey OR York) OR (North OR South)()Carolina)) OR ((east 

OR northeast? OR southeast?) (1n) coast AND (US or USA or United()States))

Set 3:

SS (Chesapeake OR new()york OR atlantic OR midatlantic)(1n)bight OR georges()bank OR 

gulf(1n)maine OR Jordan()basin OR blake(2n)(plateau OR spur OR escarpment) OR cape()(cod 

OR may OR fear OR lookout) OR ((Delmarva OR Hatteras OR Carolinas OR outer()banks) and 

Atlantic) or Charleston()Bump or Stellwagen()bank

Set 4:

SS lagoon or river? Or estuar?/ti,id,de 

Set 1 AND (Set 2 or Set 3) NOT Set 4
141 

Set 1:

SS pelagic or mesopelagic or epipelagic or bathypelagic or water()column or thermocline or 

halocline or vertical()profile or migration or nekton or Sargassum or predation or predator? Or 

trophic or food()web? Or (producti? NOT primary); SS connectivity or life()histor? Or 

population()dynamics or biodiversity or highly()migratory()species Or marmap or seamap or 

plankton? Or holoplankton or zooplankton or meroplankton or ichthyoplankton 

Set 2:

SS red()tide? Or cnidaria? Or krill or chaetognath? Or pteropod? Or salp? Or ctenophore? Or diel 

OR neuston OR copepod? 

Set 3:

SS western()north()atlantic OR (Atlantic()Ocean AND (Maine OR Massachusetts OR 

Connecticut OR Rhode()Island OR Delaware OR Maryland OR Virginia OR Georgia OR 

Florida OR New()(Hampshire OR Jersey OR York) OR (North OR South)()Carolina)) OR (east 

OR northeast? OR southeast?) (1n) coast AND (US or USA or United()States)

Set 4:

SS (Chesapeake or new()york or atlantic or midatlantic)(1n)bight or georges()bank or 

gulf(1n)maine or Jordan()basin or blake(2n)(plateau or spur or escarpment) or cape()(cod or may 

or fear or lookout) or Delmarva or Hatteras or Carolinas or outer()banks or Charleston()Bump or 

Stellwagen()bank

(Set 1 or Set 2) AND (Set 3 or Set 4)
142 

Set 1:

Ss (Seagrass? Or sea()grass? Or halophila or syringodium or zostera()marina or eelgrass or 

manateegrass or (eel or paddle or star or manatee)()grass? or SAV or 

submerged()aquatic()vegetation) NOT (lagoon or coastal Or estuar? Or shore? Or beach?) 

Set 2:

SS western()north()atlantic OR (Atlantic()Ocean AND (Maine OR Massachusetts OR 

Connecticut OR Rhode()Island OR Delaware OR Maryland OR Virginia OR Georgia OR 

Florida OR New()(Hampshire OR Jersey OR York) OR (North OR South)()Carolina)) OR ((east 

OR northeast? OR southeast?) (1n) coast AND (US or USA or United()States))

Set 3:

SS (Chesapeake OR new()york OR atlantic OR midatlantic)(1n)bight OR georges()bank OR 

gulf(1n)maine OR Jordan()basin OR blake(2n)(plateau OR spur OR escarpment) OR cape()(cod 

OR may OR fear OR lookout) OR Delmarva OR Hatteras OR Carolinas OR outer()banks or 

Charleston()Bump or Stellwagen()bank 

Set 1 and (Set 2 or Set 3) 
143 

Set 1:

SS Macrofauna? or macroinfauna? or infauna? or meiofauna? or epifauna? or megafauna? or 

(macro or meio or epi or mega)()fauna? or ((macrobenth? Or benth?) NOT (coral? Or 

foraminif?)) OR sediment()profile()imag?

Set 2:

SS western()north()atlantic OR (Atlantic()Ocean AND (Maine OR Massachusetts OR 

Connecticut OR Rhode()Island OR Delaware OR Maryland OR Virginia OR Georgia OR 

Florida OR New()(Hampshire OR Jersey OR York) OR (North OR South)()Carolina)) OR ((east 

OR northeast? OR southeast?) (1n) coast AND (US or USA or United()States))

Set 3:

SS (Chesapeake OR new()york OR atlantic OR midatlantic)(1n)bight OR georges()bank OR 

gulf(1n)maine OR Jordan()basin OR blake(2n)(plateau OR spur OR escarpment) OR cape()(cod 

OR may OR fear OR lookout) OR Delmarva OR Hatteras OR Carolinas OR outer()banks or 

Charleston()Bump or Stellwagen()bank 

Set 1 and (Set 2 or Set 3) 
144 

Set 1:

SS water()quality or turbid? or suspended()solid? or particulate? or secchi or 

extinction()coefficient? or photosynthetically(1n)radiation or dissolved()oxygen or 

oxygen()demand or hypoxi? or anoxi? or nutrient? or eutroph? or ammoni? or nitrate? or nitrite? 

or phosphate? or silica? or dissolved()(organic or inorganic) or organic()carbon or pollut? or 

contamina? or (trace or heavy)()metal? or hydrocarbon? or PAH? or TPH? or tar or DDT? or 

DDE? or PCB? or dioxin? or furan? or pesticide? or polychlorinated or biphenyl? or 

organochlorine? or benzoyrene or pyrene or phthalate? or radionuclide? or biogeochem? or 

red()tide? or pH or sewage or pathogen? or PCB? or (plastic?(f)(seawater or ocean or debris))

Set 2:

SS western()north()atlantic OR (Atlantic()Ocean AND (Maine OR Massachusetts OR 

Connecticut OR Rhode()Island OR Delaware OR Maryland OR Virginia OR Georgia OR 

Florida OR New()(Hampshire OR Jersey OR York) OR (North OR South)()Carolina)) OR ((east 

OR northeast? OR southeast?) (1n) coast AND (US or USA or United()States))

Set 3:

SS (Chesapeake OR new()york OR atlantic OR midatlantic)(1n)bight OR georges()bank OR 

gulf(1n)maine OR Jordan()basin OR blake(2n)(plateau OR spur OR escarpment) OR cape()(cod 

OR may OR fear OR lookout) OR ((Delmarva OR Hatteras OR Carolinas OR outer()banks) and 

Atlantic) or Charleston()Bump or Stellwagen()bank

Set 4:

Ss (estuar? Or river or lagoon?)/ti,id,de

Set 1 AND (Set 2 or Set 3) NOT Set 4
145 

Appendix E

WorldCatTM and Aquatic Commons Search Page 

Screen Captures

147 
148 
149 
150 
151 

Appendix F

Example of Inter-library Loan Request Form

153 

155 

157 

Appendix G

 

Example of Inter-library Loan Invoice

159 

161 

Appendix H

Example of Dataset Search Tracking Spreadsheet

163 

Table 1. 

Dataset Search Tracking Spreadsheet

Web Address Description Unique 

ID 

Number

Data 

available?

Priority Reason for 

ESID 

Ineligibility

Datatype Location Year ISRT 

Leader(s) 

Associated

Abstract Notes

http://coastalscience.noaa.g

ov/data/welcome.html

NCCOS Data N/A No P0 No data N/A N/A N/A N/A NCCOS data consists of digital 

imagery as well as chemical, 

biological and physical measurements 

and is used to describe ecosystems, 

forecast current and future ecological 

health, and evaluate management 

strategies. Currently available 

NCCOS data is accessible through the 

links below.

Publications 

available. 

NOAA's National Status and Trends Program (NS&T): 

http://ccma.nos.noaa.gov/a

bout/coast/nsandt/welcome.

html

COAST's National Status 

& Trends

N/A No - links 

to data

P0 No data N/A N/A N/A N/A NS&T is comprised of two 

nationwide programs, Mussel Watch 

and Bioeffects, that are designed to 

describe the current status of, and 

detect changes in, the environmental 

quality of our Nation’s estuarine and 

coastal waters through environmental 

monitoring, assessment and related 

research. 

Because this 

program only 

encompasses 

projects/data 

in coastal 

waters it was 

not evaluated.

National Benthic Inventory 

http://www.nbi.noaa.gov/d

efault.aspx

National Benthic 

Inventory: Welcome

N/A No P0 No data N/A N/A N/A N/A The National Benthic Inventory (NBI) 

is a dynamic quantitative database on 

benthic species distributions obtained 

from studies conducted by NOAA and 

partnering institutions in estuarine and 

other coastal areas of the United 

States. 

http://www.nbi.noaa.gov/se

archResults.aspx?study=20

02+Ocean's+Exploration

Searchable Database by 

Taxa for the 2002 Ocean 

Exploration Project: 

Benthic Infauna Species 

and Density Data and 

Depth

N/A Yes P1 N/A Benthic 

infauna data 

Offshore 

regions 

between 

SC and 

northern 

FL

2002 Balcom Benthic species data (species list, 

density) and depth collected during 

the 2002 Ocean Exploration cruise 

conducted along the shelf edge 

between South Carolina and northern 

Florida.

Links to 

download 

data and map 

your results

http://www.nbi.noaa.gov/se

archResults.aspx?study=20

00+Gray's+Reef+NMS

Searchable Database by 

Taxa for the 2000 Grays 

Reef National Marine 

Sanctuary: Benthic 

Infauna Data, Depth, 

Salinity

N/A Yes P1 N/A Benthic 

infauna data 

and salinity

Grays 

Reef 

National 

Marine 

Sanctuary

2000 Balcom Benthic species data (species list, 

density), depth, and salinity collected 

during the 2000 cruise conducted at 

Gray's Reef National Marine 

Sanctuary. 

Links to 

download 

data and map 

your results
164 

Table 1 (continued). Dataset Search Tracking Spreadsheet

Web Address Description Unique 

ID 

Number

Data 

available?

Priority Reason for 

ESID 

Ineligibility

Datatype Location Year ISRT 

Leader(s) 

Associated

Abstract Notes

http://www.nbi.noaa.gov/se

archResults.aspx?study=20

01+Gray's+Reef

Searchable Database by 

Taxa for the 2001 Grays 

Reef National Marine 

Sanctuary: Benthic 

Infauna Data, Depth, 

Salinity

N/A Yes P1 N/A Benthic 

infauna data 

and salinity

Grays 

Reef 

National 

Marine 

Sanctuary

2001 Balcom Benthic species data (species list, 

density), depth, and salinity collected 

during the 2001 cruise conducted at 

Gray's Reef National Marine 

Sanctuary. 

Links to 

download 

data and map 

your results

http://www.nbi.noaa.gov/se

archResults.aspx?study=20

02+Gray's+Reef

Searchable Database by 

Taxa for the 2002 Grays 

Reef National Marine 

Sanctuary: Benthic 

Infauna Data, Depth, 

Salinity

N/A Yes P1 N/A Benthic 

infauna data 

and salinity

Grays 

Reef 

National 

Marine 

Sanctuary

2002 Balcom Benthic species data (species list, 

density), depth, and salinity collected 

during the 2002 cruise conducted at 

Gray's Reef National Marine 

Sanctuary. 

Links to 

download 

data and map 

your results

http://www.nbi.noaa.gov/se

archResults.aspx?study=20

03+Gray's+Reef

Searchable Database by 

Taxa for the 2003 Grays 

Reef National Marine 

Sanctuary: Benthic 

Infauna Data, Depth, 

Salinity

N/A Yes P1 N/A Benthic 

infauna data 

and salinity

Grays 

Reef 

National 

Marine 

Sanctuary

2003 Balcom Benthic species data (species list, 

density), depth, and salinity collected 

during the 2003 cruise conducted at 

Gray's Reef National Marine 

Sanctuary. 

Links to 

download 

data and map 

your results

http://www.nbi.noaa.gov/se

archResults.aspx?project=G

ray's%20Reef%20Halo%20

and%20Trophic%20Interac

tions%20Study

Gray's Reef Halo and 

Trophic Interactions 

Study 

N/A Yes P1 N/A Benthic 

infauna data 

and salinity

Grays 

Reef 

National 

Marine 

Sanctuary

2003 Balcom Benthic species data (species list, 

density), depth, and salinity collected 

during the 2003 cruise conducted at 

Gray's Reef National Marine 

Sanctuary.

Links to 

download 

data and map 

your results

http://www.nbi.noaa.gov/se

archResults.aspx?project=G

ray's%20Reef%20NMS%2

0Benthic%20Assessment

Gray's Reef NMS Benthic 

Assessment 

N/A Yes P1 N/A Benthic 

infauna data 

and salinity

Grays 

Reef 

National 

Marine 

Sanctuary

2000-

2005

Balcom Benthic species data (species list, 

density), depth, and salinity collected 

during the 2003 cruise conducted at 

Gray's Reef National Marine 

Sanctuary.

Links to 

download

data and map 

your results

http://www.nbi.noaa.gov/se

archResults.aspx?project=G

ray's%20Reef%20transects

%20from%20estuary%20to

%20shelf%20edge

Gray's Reef transects 

from estuary to shelf edge

N/A Yes P1 N/A Benthic 

infauna data 

and salinity

Grays 

Reef 

National 

Marine 

Sanctuary

2001-

2002

Balcom Benthic species data (species list, 

density), depth, and salinity collected 

during the 2003 cruise conducted at 

Gray's Reef National Marine 

Sanctuary.

Links to 

download 

data and map 

your results

http://www.nbi.noaa.gov/se

archResults.aspx?study=20

02+Ocean's+Exploration

Ocean's Exploration 

Islands in the Stream

N/A Yes P1 N/A Benthic 

species data

Offshore 

region 

between 

GA and 

FL

2002 Balcom Benthic species data (species list, 

density) and depth collected during 

the 2002 cruise conducted offshore of 

South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida.

Links to 

download 

data and map 

your results
165 

Table 1 (continued). Dataset Search Tracking Spreadsheet

Web Address Description Unique 

ID 

Number

Data 

available?

Priority Reason for 

ESID 

Ineligibility

Datatype Location Year ISRT 

Leader(s) 

Associated

Abstract Notes

http://www.nbi.noaa.gov/searchRe

sults.aspx?study=1998+EPA+Jack

sonville+Dredge+Project

Searchable Database by 

Taxa for the 1998 

EPA Jacksonville 

Dredge Disposal Site: 

Benthic Infauna Data 

and Depth

N/A Yes P1 N/A Benthic 

infauna data 

Offshore 

region 

between 

GA and 

FL 

1998 Balcom Benthic species data (species list, 

density) and depth collected during 

the 2002 Ocean Exploration cruise 

conducted along the shelf edge 

between South Carolina and 

northern Florida.

Links to 

download 

data and map 

your results

http://nbi.noaa.gov/searchResults.

aspx?study=1998+EPA+Jacksonv

ille+Dredge+Project

National Benthic 

Inventory - Search 

Results EPA Jackson 

Dredge Disposal Infauna

N/A Yes P1 N/A Infauna data US EPA 

Jacksonv

ille 

Dredge 

Disposal 

Site 

1998 Balcom Bioeffects Assessment Program 

identifies and assesses biological 

effects associated with contaminant 

exposure. Over forty intensive 

regional studies have been 

conducted since 1986 using the 

Sediment Quality Triad approach 

which utilizes a stratified random 

sampling method to determine the 

areal extent of contaminated 

sediments. The data include: 

sediment chemistry, toxicity, and 

species diversity and quantity for the 

same suite of organic contaminants 

and trace metals as the Mussel 

Watch Program. 

National Benthic Inventory: Complete List of Datasets

http://www.nbi.noaa.gov/studies.a

spx

National Benthic 

Inventory: Complete List 

of Datasets

N/A No P0 No data -

links to data

N/A N/A N/A N/A Web page with links to all datasets 

in the National Benthic Inventory.

http://www.nbi.noaa.gov/searchRe

sults.aspx?study=2005%20Gray's

%20Reef%20NMS

Searchable Database by 

Taxa for the 2005 Grays 

Reef National Marine 

Sanctuary: Benthic 

Infauna Data, Depth, 

Salinity

N/A Yes P1 N/A Benthic 

infauna data 

and salinity

Grays 

Reef 

National 

Marine 

Sanctuar

y

2005 Balcom and 

Montgomery

Benthic species data (species list, 

density), depth, and salinity 

collected during the 2005 cruise 

conducted at Gray's Reef National 

Marine Sanctuary.

http://www.nbi.noaa.gov/searchRe

sults.aspx?study=2006%20MidAtlantic%20Bight%20Coastal%2

0Assessment

2006 Mid-Atlantic Bight 

Coastal Assessment:

Taxa List, 

Benthic Infauna Data, 

Depth, Salinity

N/A Yes P1 N/A Benthic 

infauna data 

and salinity

Offshore 

MidAtlantic 

Bight

2006 Balcom and 

Montgomery

Benthic species data (species list, 

density), depth, and salinity 

collected during the 2006 cruise 

conducted offshore in Mid-Atlantic 

Bight.

Several 

stations may 

be inshore of 

project area 

boundary.
166 

Table 1 (continued). Dataset Search Tracking Spreadsheet

Web Address Description Unique 

ID 

Number

Data 

available?

Priority Reason for 

ESID 

Ineligibility

Datatype Location Year ISRT 

Leader(s) 

Associated

Abstract Notes

Georgia Coastal Analysis Partnership (GCAP) --> Data and Metadata

http://www.chbr.noaa.gov/gcap/da

ta.aspx

GCAP - Data and 

Metadata 

N/A Yes P1 N/A ArcExplorer 

and 

ArcView 

files 

Offshore 

Georgia 

N/A Phillips Both the ArcExplorer and ArcView 

project files allow a user to obtain 

specific information by individual 

sampling site, including the kinds of 

samples collected, sampling gear 

type, date sampled, geographic 

coordinates, and other parameters 

measured at the site.

Potential GIS

data. The 

GRNMS and 

CCFHR data 

are within 

ESID area 

and on 

ecologically 

important 

topics 

(ichthyoplan

kton, juvenile 

fish). The 

others 

(EMAP, 

GADNR, and 

NCA) are 

coastal only.

Georgia Coastal Analysis Partnership --> Data and Metadata --> Map of Sampling Projects 

http://www.chbr.noaa.gov/gcap/m

ap.aspx 

GCAP - Map of 

Sampling Projects

N/A Yes P1 N/A Figure of 

sampling 

locations on 

web page

Georgia N/A Phillips GCAP is a joint initiative (begun 

July 2001) by scientists from the 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration (NOAA), the U.S. 

Environmental Protection Agency 

(EPA), the Georgia Department of 

Natural Resources (GA DNR), and 

the Skidaway Institute of 

Oceanography (SkIO) to coordinate 

results of ongoing federal and state 

monitoring programs along the coast 

of Georgia in an effort to support 

common research and coastalmanagement goals.

Only those 

projects 

within the 

study area 

were 

evaluated 

and listed 

below. 
167 

Table 1 (continued). Dataset Search Tracking Spreadsheet

Web Address Description Unique 

ID 

Number

Data 

available?

Priority Reason for 

ESID 

Ineligibility

Datatype Location Year ISRT 

Leader(s) 

Associated

Abstract Notes

http://www.chbr.noaa.gov/gcap/m

etadata/grnms.htm

Grays Reef National 

Marine Sanctuary 

(NOAA) Sampling Data

N/A Yes P1M N/A Sediment 

and 

macroinfaun

al metadata

Grays 

Reef 

National 

Marine 

Sanctuar

y 

2000-

2002

Balcom, 

Strum 

A field study was conducted to 

assess condition of macroinfaunal 

assemblages, concentrations of 

chemical contaminants in sediments, 

and contaminant body-burdens in 

target benthic species of the Gray's 

Reef National Marine Sanctuary off 

the coast of Georgia. Prior research 

in the sanctuary has focused on the 

impressive live-bottom assemblages 

of algae, invertebrates, fishes, and 

turtles associated with rock outcrops. 

In contrast, there has been limited 

work on the ecology of

unconsolidated substrates which 

surround the rocky-reef structures 

and characterize much of the innershelf area in the general vicinity of 

Grays Reef. The present study will 

provide a comprehensive baseline on 

condition of the soft-bottom benthos 

and background contaminant levels 

of this important natural underwater 

resource. The macrobenthos is a key 

component of this system, playing 

vital roles in detrital decomposition, 

nutrient cycling, and energy flow to 

higher trophic levels. Moreover, 

because of their relatively stationary 

existence within sediments, benthic 

infauna can serve as reliable 

indicators of potential environmental 

disturbances to the seafloor. Such 

information is of direct importance 

to the development of management 

plans for the Sanctuary as an 

additional contribution to our 

understanding of the basic ecology 

of this system and as a baseline for 

monitoring any future changes due 

to either natural or anthropogenic 

influences. 

All 

monitoring 

data 

collected at 

GRNMS 

from 2000-

2005 

(excluding 

2004) was 

obtained 

from NOAA 

on 7/8/10 

(Access® 

database) and 

sent to 

AMEC.
168 

Table 1 (continued). Dataset Search Tracking Spreadsheet

Web Address Description Unique 

ID 

Number

Data 

available?

Priority Reason for 

ESID 

Ineligibility

Datatype Location Year ISRT 

Leader(s) 

Associated

Abstract Notes

The present benthic survey, led by 

NOAA scientists from the Center for 

Coastal Environmental Health and 

Biomolecular Research (CCEHBR), 

is a component of a larger, ongoing 

coordinated site characterization of 

the sanctuary by the GRNMS Office 

and two NCCOS Centers (CCEHBR 

and the Center for Coastal Fisheries 

and Habitat Research - CCFHR).

http://www.chbr.noaa.gov/gcap/m

etadata/ccfhr.htm

NOAA Center for 

Coastal Fisheries and 

Habitat Research

N/A Yes P0 Not 

applicable to 

the resource 

categories 

Ichthyoplan

kton and 

juvenile fish 

catch 

metadata 

Offshore 

Georgia 

2000-

2001

N/A Samples were collected from the 

NOAA Research Vessel Ferrel (R492) between April 2000 and June 

2001. Ichthyoplankton were sampled 

with 3 gear types: 60 cm bongo, 1m 

sled, and neuston nets. Juvenile fish 

were collected using a 2 m beam 

trawl. 

FinBase 

http://www.chbr.noaa.gov/FinBas

e/

FinBase PhotoIdentification Database 

System 

N/A No P0 No data -

link to 

database 

N/A N/A N/A N/A FinBase is a customized Microsoft® 

Access® database that stores and 

manages textual and numerical data 

from photo-identification surveys of 

bottlenose dolphins. It also performs 

many of the tasks associated with 

image management and analysis. 

Photo 

database. 

Not 

applicable to 

resource 

categories 

and therefore 

not 

evaluated.

ReefFish database

http://www8.nos.noaa.gov/biogeo

_public/query_main.aspx

Coral Reef Ecosystem 

Assessment and 

Monitoring Database 

Report Module 

N/A No P0 No data -

link to 

metadata 

N/A Puerto 

Rico, 

USVI, 

and 

Flower 

Garden 

Banks

N/A N/A Fish, habitat, water quality, and 

photo database for Puerto Rico, 

USVI, and Flower Garden Banks

Outside of 

the project 

area. 

NOS Data Explorer

http://oceanservice.noaa.gov/datae

xplorer/welcome.html

NOS Data Explorer N/A N/A 99 N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A This website 

has its own 

spreadsheet 

tracker (003 

NOS)
169 

Appendix I

Dataset Search Written Protocols

171 

Protocol for Dataset Evaluation

National Oceanographic Data Center’s Ocean Archive System 

http://www.nodc.noaa.gov/cgi-bin/search/prod/accessionsView.pl

A query of the National Oceanographic Data Center’s Ocean Archive System was conducted 

from 1/5/10 – 2/1/10 by Leslie Duncan (Atkins). From the homepage, a query of the available 

datasets was conducted based upon those “Sea Areas” that are relevant to the ESID project. The 

following sea areas were queried: Coastal Waters of Florida, East Coast-US/Canada, Georges 

Bank, Gray's Reef National Marine Sanctuary, Gulf of Maine, Mid-Atlantic Bight, New York 

Bight, North American Coastline - North, North American Coastline - South, North Atlantic 

Ocean, Northwest Atlantic (limit 40W), Sargasso Sea, Stellwagen Bank National Marine 

Sanctuary, Straits of Florida, and World-Wide Distribution. The resulting NODC accessions and 

associated info were transferred to a Microsoft® Excel® spreadsheet and each accession was 

subsequently evaluated. 

Threshold Criteria and Prioritization

To determine whether a particular NODC accession was relevant to the ESID project, the 

accession was first evaluated to determine whether the dataset met the two ESID Threshold 

Criteria: 

Topic – the dataset applies, or may apply, to at least one of the ESID Resource Categories

Location – the dataset applies, or may apply, to the ESID study area 

The NODC accessions were evaluated against the threshold criteria based upon the dataset 

descriptors available in association with each accession, as shown in the following table: 

ESID Threshold Criteria NODC Dataset 

Descriptors

Topic Datatype

Title

Location Sea Area

Details (as needed)

Not Eligible: Datasets that met the following criteria were given a Priority 0 (P0) because they 

were not relevant to the ESID project:

Datasets that did not meet either one of the ESID Threshold Criteria

Datasets that only contain meteorological data and/or physical oceanographic data (e.g., current, 

wave, temperature, salinity, conductivity, etc.) 

Datasets that are known to be heavily focused on the collection of meteorological data and/or 

physical oceanographic data, although they may also collect some water quality data (i.e., Gulf 

of Maine Ocean Observing System (GoMOOS) data)

Eligible: Those datasets that met both threshold criteria were considered eligible for the ESID.

Priority 1 (P1) Datasets – Those datasets that contain

Water quality data that include pollutants (e.g., hydrocarbons, PCBs) 

Datatypes that contain biological data, with or without water quality data
172 

Priority 2 (P2) Datasets – Those datasets that contain water quality data (e.g., dissolved oxygen, 

secchi depth, transmissivity, chlorophyll, fluorescence, nutrients), or a combination of water 

quality and physical oceanography data. 

Eligibility Unknown: A number of datasets met the “topic” criterion, while the “location” 

criterion was not descriptive enough to determine whether the data fell within the ESID project 

area. Such datasets were considered Priority 3 (P3). 

PROTOCOL FOR DATASET EVALUATION 

NOAA National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science (NCCOS)

http://coastalscience.noaa.gov/data/welcome.html

An evaluation of the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration’s National 

Centers for Coastal Ocean Science (NCCOS) Data website was conducted from 2/2/10-5/11/10 

by Leslie Duncan (Atkins). No query feature was available on the NCCOS website and the 

available NCCOS data is currently accessible only through external web links. Each of the 

external web links on the NCCOS Data page were searched for datasets. All data available were 

documented in an Excel® spreadsheet and subsequently evaluated. Web links with access to 

publications were noted in the Excel® spreadsheet.

The first web link accessed was NOAA's National Status and Trends Program (NS&T). NS&T 

is comprised of two nationwide programs, Mussel Watch and Bioeffects, which are designed to 

describe the current status of, and detect changes in, the environmental quality of U.S. estuarine 

and coastal waters through environmental monitoring, assessment, and related research. Because 

this program only encompasses projects in coastal waters, the available data is not applicable to 

the ESID project, and the individual datasets were not evaluated. 

The second web link accessed was the National Benthic Inventory (NBI). Using the map feature 

on this website, the regions Virginia to Maine and Florida to North Carolina were selected. Most 

of the studies within the regions selected were conducted within coastal waters and thus not 

applicable to the ESID project. Exceptions included studies on the Gray’s Reef National Marine 

Sanctuary, the EPA Dredge Disposal Site, and the Ocean Exploration sites, which were 

investigated for applicable data. In addition to the map feature, from the National Benthic 

Inventory home page, additional datasets were discovered when the complete list of datasets was 

selected. 

The third web link accessed was the Georgia Coastal Analysis Partnership (GCAP). The user 

then selected the link to Data and Metadata on the left side of the web page and proceeded to 

browse using the interactive map. 

The fourth web link accessed was the Finbase website, which is not applicable to the ESID 

project and was not analyzed. 
173 

The fifth web link accessed was the ReefFish database, which directs the user to the Coral Reef 

Ecosystem Assessment and Monitoring Database Report Module. The information in this 

database is not applicable to the ESID project because all data fell outside the ESID project area. 

The final web link accessed was the National Ocean Service (NOS) Data Explorer, which was 

not searched because this website has its own tracking spreadsheet.

Threshold Criteria and Prioritization

To determine whether a particular NCCOS dataset was relevant to the ESID project, it was first 

evaluated to determine whether the dataset met the two ESID Threshold Criteria: 

 

Topic – the dataset applies, or may apply, to at least one of the ESID Resource Categories

Location – the dataset applies, or may apply, to the ESID study area 

The NCCOS datasets were evaluated against the threshold criteria based upon the description 

provided on the website. 

Not Eligible: If a dataset did not meet either one of the ESID Threshold Criteria, then it was 

given a Priority 0 (P0) because the dataset is not relevant to the ESID project. The following 

datasets were also considered P0:

Datasets solely containing fisheries landings/catch data (no additional ecological or biological 

data).

Eligible: Those datasets that met both threshold criteria were considered eligible for the ESID. 

Priority 1 (P1) Datasets - The following datasets were assigned P1:

Ecological (e.g., species density data versus depth) and water quality data available for offshore 

sites within the project area.

Sediment texture and contaminant data at national marine sanctuary within the outer continental 

shelf (OCS). 

Priority 1 Metadata (P1M) - A code of “P1M” was assigned to those web links with metadata for 

a corresponding P1 dataset. 

Priority 2 (P2) Datasets – No P2 datasets were found. 
174 

PROTOCOL FOR DATASET EVALUATION

NOAA National Ocean Service Data Explorer

http://oceanservice.noaa.gov/dataexplorer/

An evaluation of the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) 

National Ocean Service (NOS) Data Explorer website was conducted from 3/12/10 – 4/6/10 by 

Susan Colley Theodosiou (Atkins) and Beth Zimmer (Atkins). Because the query feature 

available on the NOS Data Explorer website searches all available datasets, it was determined 

that the most efficient method for evaluating the website was to assess the datasets themselves 

for applicability to the ESID project. Thus, from the Data Explorer Home Page, each dataset 

was reviewed under the “Data Web Sites” link, which provides a description of all the accessible 

datasets. In addition, the main NOS Home Page was perused for available datasets. From the 

NOS Home Page, web links were followed and pertinent links were evaluated for relevancy to 

the project. All web links were documented in an Excel® spreadsheet with a description of 

available data or information. The resulting datasets and URLs were then evaluated for 

relevance to the ESID project. URLs with access to publications were noted in the Microsoft® 

Excel® spreadsheet.

Threshold Criteria and Prioritization

To determine whether a particular NOS dataset was relevant to the ESID project, it was first 

evaluated to determine whether the dataset met the two ESID Threshold Criteria:

Topic – the dataset applies, or may apply, to at least one of the ESID Resource Categories

Location – the dataset applies, or may apply, to the ESID study area. 

The NOS datasets were evaluated against the threshold criteria based upon the description 

provided on the website. 

Not Eligible: If a dataset did not meet either one of the ESID Threshold Criteria, then it was 

given a Priority 0 (P0) because the dataset is not relevant to the ESID project.

Eligible: Those datasets that met both threshold criteria were considered eligible for the ESID. 

This search revealed no datasets that were identified as eligible for the ESID.

PROTOCOL FOR DATASET EVALUATION

NOAA’s Undersea Research Center (NURC)

University of North Carolina Wilmington

http://www.uncw.edu/nurc/index.htm

An evaluation of the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration Undersea Research Center 

(NURC) website was conducted on 4/16/10-4/27/10 by Cheryl Wapnick (Atkins). The 

information links on this website are listed across the top of the webpage. No query feature was 

available on the NURC website, so the web links were followed until datasets were located. The 

resulting datasets were documented in an Excel® spreadsheet and subsequently evaluated. If 

available data was found under more than one web link, it was included in the spreadsheet only 

under the web link where it was first identified. 
175 

Primary web links that contained related sub-links were evaluated to determine if data were 

readily available. If data appeared to be readily available, web links were followed until the 

datasets were located. If data did not appear to be readily available, the sub-link was typically 

not evaluated further. All links obviously leading to websites that do not contain data (e.g., 

images of the Aquarius habitat, aquanaut profiles, information for media inquiries) were not 

evaluated further; however the existence of these links was described in the spreadsheet. Web 

links with access to publications were noted in the Excel® spreadsheet.

Threshold Criteria and Prioritization

To determine whether a particular NURC dataset was relevant to the ESID project, it was first 

evaluated to determine whether the dataset met the two ESID Threshold Criteria:

Topic – the dataset applies, or may apply, to at least one of the ESID Resource Categories

Location – the dataset applies, or may apply, to the ESID study area 

The NURC datasets were evaluated against the threshold criteria based upon the description 

provided on the website. 

Not Eligible: If a dataset did not meet either one of the ESID Threshold Criteria, then it was 

given a Priority 0 (P0) because the dataset is not relevant to the ESID project. In addition, those 

datasets containing only physical oceanography data (e.g., temperature, salinity, etc) were 

assigned a P0 priority. 

Eligible: Those datasets that met both threshold criteria were considered eligible for the ESID.

Priority 1 (P1) Datasets – Those datasets that contain environmental/ecological data along with 

the mapped distribution of habitats. 

Priority 2 (P2) Datasets – The following datasets were assigned a P2:

Those datasets that contain fish sighting frequency and density scores.

Those datasets that contain water quality data (e.g., fluorescence, PAR, backscatter, dissolved 

oxygen, chlorophyll), or a combination of water quality and physical oceanography data. 
176 

PROTOCOL FOR DATASET EVALUATION

NOAA’s Coastal Services Center

http://www.csc.noaa.gov/

An evaluation of the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration’s Coastal Services Center 

(CSC) website was conducted on 5/3/10-6/10/10 by Cheryl Wapnick (Atkins). The search for 

data was conducted by exploring the links in the toolbar located across the top of the webpage, as 

well as the links in the “Regional and State Initiatives” section of the webpage. No query feature 

was available on the CSC website, so the web links were followed until datasets were located. 

The resulting datasets were documented in an Excel® spreadsheet and subsequently evaluated. 

If available data was found under more than one web link, it was included in the spreadsheet 

only under the web link where it was first identified. 

Primary web links that contained related sub-links were evaluated to determine if data were 

readily available. If data appeared to be readily available, web links were followed until the 

datasets were located. If data did not appear to be readily available, the sub-link was typically 

not evaluated further. All web links obviously leading to websites that do not contain data (e.g., 

employment opportunities, staff directory, upcoming events, directions, and funding 

opportunities) were not evaluated further; however the existence of these links was recorded in 

the Excel® spreadsheet. URLs with access to publications were noted in the Excel® 

spreadsheet.

Threshold Criteria and Prioritization

To determine whether a particular CSC dataset was relevant to the ESID project, it was first 

evaluated to determine whether the dataset met the two ESID Threshold Criteria:

 

Topic – the dataset applies, or may apply, to at least one of the ESID Resource Categories

Location – the dataset applies, or may apply, to the ESID study area 

The CSC datasets were evaluated against the threshold criteria based upon the description 

provided on the website. 

Not Eligible: If a dataset did not meet either one of the ESID Threshold Criteria, then it was 

given a Priority 0 (P0) because the dataset is not relevant to the ESID project. The following 

datasets were also considered P0:

Datasets containing solely of fisheries landings/catch data (without additional ecological or 

biological data).

Eligible: Those datasets that met both threshold criteria were considered eligible for the ESID.

Priority 1 (P1) Datasets – The following datasets were assigned a P1:

GIS data for bottom sediment sampling and sidescan sonar at Oculina Bank, which may be 

located partially within the ESID project area and

GIS data for seafloor geology and surficial sediment data for the offshore Atlantic Ocean. 

Sediment texture data for Oculina Bank, which may be located partially within the ESID project 

area.
177 

Map displaying bottom geology interpretation of sidescan sonar along the US Atlantic 

Continental Margin Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). 

Priority 2 (P2) Datasets – Bottom type maps for Oculina Bank were assigned a P2 based on the 

limited amount of data available within these maps.

PROTOCOL FOR DATASET EVALUATION

NOAA Coral Reef Information System

http://coris.noaa.gov/

An evaluation of the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration’s Coral Reef 

Information System (CoRIS) websitewas conducted on 2/2/10 – 4/8/10 by Leslie Duncan 

(Atkins). The available data on this website was accessed by using the “Region Portal” and 

selecting “Florida”, as the other regions were not applicable to the ESID. Once within the 

Florida region, the “Metadata” link was selected, allowing the user to search the CoRIS data and 

publications section for Florida metadata, data, and publications. All results (i.e., data, metadata, 

and publications) were assessed. The numerous publications discovered using this query were 

separated into an individual spreadsheet, titled “NOAA-CoRIS_Publications.xlsx”, for later use. 

The data and metadata were documented in an Excel® spreadsheet and subsequently evaluated.

It is important to note that CoRIS is an information system with users adding data and 

publications on a daily basis. Some of the web links in the tracking spreadsheet refer to a record 

number (e.g., http://coris.noaa.gov/data/?region=Florida;rec=64 or record number 64). As data 

and publications are added to CoRIS, the record numbers change and unfortunately the web links 

in the tracking spreadsheet are not simultaneously updated. As a result, web links with record 

numbers may not correspond to the project description in a given row. 

Threshold Criteria and Prioritization

To determine whether a particular CoRIS dataset was relevant to the ESID project, it was first 

evaluated to determine whether the dataset met the two ESID Threshold Criteria:

Topic – the dataset applies, or may apply, to at least one of the ESID Resource Categories

Location – the dataset applies, or may apply, to the ESID study area

The CoRIS datasets were evaluated against the threshold criteria based upon the description 

provided on the website. 

Not Eligible: If a dataset did not meet either one of the ESID Threshold Criteria, then it was 

given a Priority 0 (P0) because the dataset is not relevant to the ESID project.

Eligible: Those datasets that met both threshold criteria were considered eligible for the ESID 

and were categorized as Priority 1 (P1) or Priority 2 (P2). 

Priority 1 (P1): Datasets that 1) included spatially explicit data on coral reef or hardbottom 

community taxa within the project area or 2) contained relevant ecological data from benthic and 

water column sampling. 
178 

Priority 2 (P2): Only one dataset was assigned a Priority 2 (P2). These data consisted mainly of 

study area locations, ship tracks, sampling station locations, plus routine meteorological and 

oceanographic data collected along the ship tracks. While the oceanographic data are mainly 

temperature and salinity readings, some chlorophyll measurements are included. 

PROTOCOL FOR DATASET EVALUATION

VIMS Center for Coastal Resources Management GIS Data & Maps

http://ccrm.vims.edu/gis_data_maps/data/index.html

An evaluation of the Virginia Institute of Marine Science Center for Coastal Resources 

Management GIS Data & Maps website was conducted on 3/18/10 and 3/19/10 by Cheryl 

Wapnick (Atkins). The available data on this website is organized into three main URLs titled 

“Data”, “Interactive Maps”, and “Static Maps”. No query feature was available on the VIMS 

website, so the URLs were followed until datasets were located. The resulting datasets were 

documented in an Excel® spreadsheet and subsequently evaluated. If available data was found 

under more than one URL, it was included in the spreadsheet under the URL where it was first 

identified. URLs with access to publications were noted in the Excel® spreadsheet.

Threshold Criteria and Prioritization

To determine whether a particular VIMS dataset was relevant to the ESID project, it was first 

evaluated to determine whether the dataset met the two ESID Threshold Criteria:

 

Topic – the dataset applies, or may apply, to at least one of the ESID Resource Categories

Location – the dataset applies, or may apply, to the ESID study area 

The VIMS datasets were evaluated against the threshold criteria based upon the description 

provided on the website. 

Not Eligible: If a dataset did not meet either one of the ESID Threshold Criteria, then it was

given a Priority 0 (P0) because the dataset is not relevant to the ESID project.

Eligible: Those datasets that met both threshold criteria were considered eligible for the ESID.

There were no VIMS datasets that were identified as eligible for the ESID.

PROTOCOL FOR DATASET EVALUATION

Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science

http://www.rsmas.miami.edu

An evaluation of the University of Miami’s (UM) Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric 

Science (RSMAS) website was conducted from 3/22/10 – 4/13/10 by Susan Colley Theodosiou 

and Leslie Duncan (Atkins). No query feature was available on the RSMAS website, so the web 

links were followed in search of data. From the RSMAS Home page, tabs at the top of the web 

page were assessed, starting with “About RSMAS” and proceeding to the right to “Resources”. 

Some of the home page tabs were not searched exhaustively since their purpose was 

informational or public relations oriented (e.g., the “Students” tab). Internal links within these 
179 

tabs were visited, documented in an Excel® spreadsheet, and subsequently evaluated for 

relevance to the ESID project. URLs with access to publications were noted in the Excel® 

spreadsheet.

Threshold Criteria and Prioritization

To determine whether a particular RSMAS dataset was relevant to the ESID project, it was first 

evaluated to determine whether the dataset met the two ESID Threshold Criteria:

Topic – the dataset applies, or may apply, to at least one of the ESID Resource Categories

Location – the dataset applies, or may apply, to the ESID study area 

The RSMAS datasets were evaluated against the threshold criteria based upon the description 

provided on the website. 

Not Eligible: If a dataset did not meet either one of the ESID Threshold Criteria, then it was

given a Priority 0 (P0) because the dataset is not relevant to the ESID project.

Eligible: Those datasets that met both threshold criteria were considered eligible for the ESID.

Priority 1 (P1) Datasets – No high priority datasets were identified on the RSMAS website. 

Priority 2 (P2) Datasets – Those datasets that contain relevant water quality data (e.g., dissolved 

oxygen, transmissivity, fluorescence, plankton counts, etc.). 

PROTOCOL FOR DATASET EVALUATION

Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) Data Center

http://www.whoi.edu/page.do?pid=7140

An evaluation of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) Data Center website was 

conducted on 6/28/10 - 6/29/10 by Amy Dalton (Atkins). The information links on this website 

are listed down the center of the page and across the top of the web page under the tab for 

“Research”. The sub-tabs located under “Research” were searched; however, no data were 

available. Thus, these sub-tabs were not documented on the spreadsheet. The “Additional 

Resources” tab on the left of the page was documented in a separate search and has its own 

tracking spreadsheet (015 - WHOI Additional Resources). 

The web links found on the WHOI Data Center page were evaluated to determine whether data 

were readily available. If data appeared to be readily available, web links were followed until 

applicable datasets were located. The resulting datasets were documented in an Excel® 

spreadsheet and subsequently evaluated. If data did not appear to be readily available, the web 

link was typically not evaluated further but was documented in the spreadsheet. If available data 

were found under more than one web link, the data were included in the spreadsheet only under 

the web link where it was first identified. Web links with access to publications were noted in 

the Excel® spreadsheet.

The third web link on the web page, Biological and Chemical Oceanography Data Management 

Office (BCO-DMO), contains marine biogeochemical and ecological data. The list of BCO-
180 

DMO datasets was assessed for relevance to the ESID project 

(http://osprey.bcodmo.org/dataset.cfm). Only those datasets potentially within the ESID project 

area were included in the Excel® spreadsheet and were subsequently evaluated. 

Threshold Criteria and Prioritization

To determine whether a particular WHOI Data Center dataset was relevant to the ESID project, it 

was first evaluated to determine whether the dataset met the two ESID Threshold Criteria:

 

Topic – the dataset applies, or may apply, to at least one of the ESID Resource Categories

Location – the dataset applies, or may apply, to the ESID study area

The WHOI Data Center datasets were evaluated against the threshold criteria based upon the 

description provided on the website. 

Not Eligible: The following datasets were assigned a P0:

Datasets that do not meet either one of the ESID Threshold Criteria. 

Datasets solely containing fisheries landings/catch data (no additional ecological or biological 

data).

Meteorological and physical oceanography data (i.e., air temperature, sea surface temperature, 

salinity, wind speed).

Bacterial abundance, biomass, and productivity data.

Eligible: Those datasets that met both threshold criteria were considered eligible for the ESID.

Priority 1 (P1) Datasets – The following datasets were assigned a P1:

Zooplankton data and species lists from Georges Bank

Lobster distribution data from Maine to Canada 

Abundance, size, and fecundity of Salpa aspera in the slope waters off northeastern USA 

Video plankton recorder data 

Surficial sediment data collected in the Western North Atlantic and worldwide

A category of “P1M” was assigned to metadata identified as relevant to the ESID

Priority 2 (P2) Datasets – The following datasets were assigned a P2:

Fisheries-dependent catch data with additional biological data (e.g., fish size, age, health) 

Water quality and nutrient data without a biological component 

Algal data (e.g., chlorophyll, phaeopigment, photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) data) 

Sampling data for sediments, pore water, and bottom water – samples used for culturing studies 

of benthic foraminifera

PROTOCOL FOR DATASET EVALUATION

NOAA National Geophysical Data Center

http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/

An evaluation of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration National Geophysical 

Data Center (NGDC) website was conducted on 3/24/10 – 5/18/10 by Cheryl Wapnick (Atkins) 

and Beth Zimmer (Atkins). No query feature was available on the NGDC website, so the web 

links were followed until datasets were located. The information on this website is organized 
181 

into six primary web links titled “Marine Geology and Geophysics” , “Bathymetry and 

Global Relief”, “Space Weather and Solar Events”, “Earth Observations from Space”, 

“Geomagnetic Data and Models”, and “Natural Hazards”. Secondary web links entitled “Marine 

Geophysics”, “Marine Geology”, and “Ocean Depths” were all found under the primary web link 

titled “Marine Geology and Geophysics”. The resulting web links and datasets were documented 

in an Excel® spreadsheet and subsequently evaluated for relevance to the ESID project. Web 

links with access to publications were noted in the Microsoft® Excel® spreadsheet. In addition, 

all NGDC publications are available at the following website:

http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/nndc/struts/results?op_1=eq&v_1=PUB&t=102759&s=15&d=10,15,

11

Threshold Criteria and Prioritization

To determine whether a particular NGDC dataset was relevant to the ESID project, it was first 

evaluated to determine whether the dataset met the two ESID Threshold Criteria:

Topic – the dataset applies, or may apply, to at least one of the ESID Resource Categories

Location – the dataset applies, or may apply, to the ESID study area

The NGDC datasets were evaluated against the threshold criteria based upon the description 

provided on the website. 

Not Eligible: If a dataset did not meet either one of the ESID Threshold Criteria, then it was 

given a Priority 0 (P0) because the dataset is not relevant to the ESID project. The following 

datasets were also assigned a P0:

Data from deep coring projects, including studies of plate tectonics, earth's crustal structure and 

composition, conditions in ancient oceans, and paleoclimatology. 

Paleoclimatological data, which is not useful for current conditions. 

C-14 dating data, which is not useful for current conditions. 

Igneous rock data, which is not representative of seafloor environmental conditions for the outer 

continental shelf (OCS).

Eligible: Those datasets that met both threshold criteria were considered eligible for the ESID.

Priority 1 (P1) Datasets – datasets containing surficial sediment data, including descriptive, grain 

size, and texture data, as well as sediment samples with contamination data. 

Priority 2 (P2) Datasets – The following datasets were assigned P2:

Datasets with only minor quantities of surficial sediment data.

Datasets with data for ferromanganese nodules only.

Dataset containing total sediment thickness data which is not of primary importance for data 

depicting current conditions.

PROTOCOL FOR DATASET EVALUATION

NOAA Coastal Services Center Digital Coast

http://www.csc.noaa.gov/digitalcoast/data/index.html

http://www.csc.noaa.gov/digitalcoast/tools/index.html
182 

An evaluation of the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) 

Coastal Services Center (CSC) Digital Coast website

(http://www.csc.noaa.gov/digitalcoast/index.html) was conducted from 2/2/10 – 3/15/10 by 

Leslie Duncan (Atkins) and Beth Zimmer (Atkins). The available data on this website is 

organized into two main URLs titled “Data” and “Tools”. No query feature was available on the 

CSC Digital Coast website, so the URLs were followed until datasets were located. The 

resulting datasets/webtools were documented in an Excel® spreadsheet and subsequently 

evaluated. URLs with access to publications were noted in the Excel® spreadsheet.

Threshold Criteria and Prioritization

To determine whether a particular CSC digital coast dataset was relevant to the ESID project, it 

was first evaluated to determine whether the dataset met the two ESID Threshold Criteria:

Topic – the dataset applies, or may apply, to at least one of the ESID Resource Categories

Location – the dataset applies, or may apply, to the ESID study area 

The CSC digital coast datasets were evaluated against the threshold criteria based upon the 

description provided on the website.

Not Eligible: If a dataset did not meet either one of the ESID Threshold Criteria, then it was 

given a Priority 0 (P0) because the dataset is not relevant to the ESID project.

Eligible: Those datasets that met both threshold criteria were considered eligible for the ESID.

Priority 1 (P1) Datasets –The dataset on the CSC Digital Coast website that was identified as P1 

(Multipurpose Marine Cadastre) contains geological and seafloor data (i.e., sediment type), as 

well as benthic habitat data.

Priority 2 (P2) Datasets – The dataset on the CSC Digital Coast website that was identified as P2 

(Cumulative Impacts Model) contains ecosystem habitat layers; however, the focus of the dataset 

is on global-scale mapping and anthropogenic impacts based on modeling data. 

PROTOCOL FOR DATASET EVALUATION

usSEABED 

http://walrus.wr.usgs.gov/usseabed/ 

An evaluation of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) usSEABED website (http://walrus.wr. 

usgs.gov/usseabed/) was conducted from 3/31/10 – 5/10/10 by Susan Colley Theodosiou 

(Atkins) and Leslie Duncan (Atkins). No query feature was available on the usSEABED 

website; thus, the URLs were followed until datasets were located. From the usSEABED home 

page, available URLs were followed from the sidebar located on the right side of webpage. Each 

URL was and assessed for relevancy to the ESID project and documented in an Excel® 

spreadsheet with a description of any available data or information. URLs with access to 

publications were noted in the Excel® spreadsheet.

While searching the usSEABED website, an external URL was located - the USGS Coastal & 

Marine Geology InfoBank (CMG InfoBank; http://walrus.wr.usgs.gov/infobank/). The CMG 
183 

InfoBank website contains information for many USGS projects conducted within the ESID 

study area. Applicable projects were located by accessing the “Field Work - Past” section of the 

CMG InfoBank website, which resulted in a large list of project metadata links and location 

information. Only those links that appeared to be within the project area were assessed for 

relevancy to the ESID project and were documented in the Excel® spreadsheet. 

Threshold Criteria and Prioritization

To determine whether a particular dataset was relevant to the ESID project, the project 

description provided in the metadata files was first evaluated to determine whether it met the two 

ESID Threshold Criteria:

Topic – the dataset applies, or may apply, to at least one of the ESID Resource Categories

Location – the dataset applies, or may apply, to the ESID study area 

Not Eligible: Datasets that met the following criteria were given a Priority 0 (P0) because they 

are not relevant to the ESID project:

Datasets that did not meet either one of the ESID Datasets that contain only meteorology or 

physical oceanography data (e.g., currents, waves, temperature, salinity, conductivity, etc.) 

Interactive mapping servers or viewers of data (the datasets populating each interactive 

server/viewer was individually evaluated within the Excel® spreadsheet)

Physical catalogs of sediment samples (i.e., sample type, sample coordinates, water depth, core 

length, information about sample archival) 

Deep (stratigraphic) sediment core samples, which are not useful for current conditions. 

Eligible: Those datasets that met both threshold criteria were considered eligible for the ESID. 

Priority 1 (P1) Datasets – The following datasets were assigned P1:

Datasets containing surficial sediment data (e.g., description, grain size, texture, and contaminant 

data)

A category of “P1M” was assigned to metadata identified as relevant to the ESID. This includes: 

Google KMZ and KML files with navigation data and sampling locations 

Relevant ecological data collected partially or completely within the ESID study area, including: 

otter trawl and bottom dredge samples 

benthic invertebrate samples

benthic habitat and fish productivity data 

geological and biological samples 

character/distribution of fisheries habitats and quantification of trawling/dredging on epibenthic 

megafauna in fished/un-fished areas

sediment samples used for studies of benthic infauna, microbiology, heavy metal and organic 

geochemistry

abundance and distribution of juvenile cod and haddock in relation to bottom sediment type 

sediment distribution and bottom morphology 

lobster abundance data 

transect survey data (i.e., megafauna data and their habitats and faunal and substrate samples for 

contaminants including hydrocarbons, trace metals, and PCBs)

Water quality datasets that include biological data (e.g., zooplankton and herring larvae). 
184 

Priority 2 (P2) Datasets – The following datasets were assigned P2:

Maps of core and grab sampling locations, which contain links to technical documents presenting 

the sampling results 

Water quality data with suspended matter/sediment concentrations 

Mostly geophysical data that contains some geological components (i.e., vibrating core and grab 

samples)

Sediment grab sample data - heavy mineral delineation

A category of “P2M” was assigned to metadata identified as relevant to the ESID. 

Google KMZ and KML files with navigation data and sampling locations 

Sediment stratigraphy data

Sediment data with mineral deposit data 

PROTOCOL FOR DATASET EVALUATION

National Undersea Research Program (NURP) Library

http://www.nurp.noaa.gov/Library.htm

An evaluation of the National Undersea Research Program (NURP) Library website as 

conducted on 8/24/10 by Beth Zimmer (Atkins). This webpage contains web links leading to 

data and publications associated with the NURP. Each of the web links were explored and 

primary hyperlinks that contained related sub-hyperlinks were evaluated to determine if data 

were readily available. If data appeared to be readily available, hyperlinks were followed until 

the datasets were located. If data did not appear to be readily available, the hyperlink was 

typically not evaluated further. Each web link was assessed for relevancy to the ESID project 

and documented in an Excel® spreadsheet with a description of any available data or 

information. URLs with access to publications were noted in the Excel® spreadsheet.

The NURP Library web page contained web links under five major headings: “Data Products”, 

“Multimedia”, “Publications”, “Documents” and “Links to Other Oceanographic Websites”. 

The web link available under “Data Products” is the NURP Research Explorer. This link was 

not working. Attempts to contact the webmaster for the page did not result in any responses. 

Threshold Criteria and Prioritization

To determine whether a particular dataset was relevant to the ESID project, it was first evaluated 

to determine whether the dataset met the two ESID Threshold Criteria:

Topic – the dataset applies, or may apply, to at least one of the ESID Resource Categories

Location – the dataset applies, or may apply, to the ESID study area 

 

The NURP Library datasets were evaluated against the threshold criteria based upon the 

description provided on the website.

Not Eligible: If a dataset did not meet either one of the ESID Threshold Criteria, then it was 

given a Priority 0 (P0) because the dataset is not relevant to the ESID project.

Eligible: Those datasets that met both threshold criteria were considered eligible for the ESID. 

Priority 1 (P1) Datasets – No datasets were assigned a P1.
185 

Priority 2 (P2) Datasets – Sediment core sampling data from deep-sea drilling projects.

PROTOCOL FOR DATASET EVALUATION

National Undersea Research Center North Atlantic and Great Lakes (NURC-NAGL) Research 

Explorer 

http://www.nurc.uconn.edu/research/mis/rexplorer.asp

An evaluation of the National Undersea Research Center North Atlantic and Great Lakes 

(NURC-NAGL) Research Explorer website was conducted on 8/5/10 by Leslie Duncan (Atkins). 

Available data and technical information was accessed by using the query feature on the main 

web page. The search for data was conducted by using the “Environments” Keyword search. 

Only those Environment categories potentially within the ESID project area were selected, 

including Mid-water/Pelagic, Rise/Abyss Hydrothermal Vents, Rise/Abyss Seamounts, Shelf – 

Coral Reef, Shelf – Ecological Reserves and Sanctuaries, Shelf – Hard Substrate, Shelf – 

Rocky Cobble/ Reef, Shelf – Soft Substrate, and Slope – Submarine Canyons. All query results 

were assessed, documented in an Excel® spreadsheet, and subsequently evaluated for relevance 

to the ESID project. Web links with access to publications were noted in the Excel® spreadsheet.

In addition, other web links within the NURC Research Program website were searched briefly 

for data. No data was located during this additional search.

Threshold Criteria and Prioritization

To determine whether a particular NURC-NAGL dataset was relevant to the ESID project, it was 

first evaluated to determine whether the dataset met the two ESID Threshold Criteria:

Topic – the dataset applies, or may apply, to at least one of the ESID Resource Categories

Location – the dataset applies, or may apply, to the ESID study area 

The NURC-NAGL datasets were evaluated against the threshold criteria based upon the 

description provided on the website.

Not Eligible: If a dataset did not meet either one of the ESID Threshold Criteria, then it was 

given a Priority 0 (P0) because the dataset is not relevant to the ESID project.

Eligible: Those datasets that met both threshold criteria were considered eligible for the ESID 

and were categorized as Priority 1 (P1) or Priority 2 (P2). 

Priority 1 (P1): The following datasets were assigned a P1:

A category of “P1M” was assigned to web links with metadata associated with the following 

projects or topics:

Deep-sea coral communities

Shallow and deep-water octocoral communities

Microbe-coral interaction studies

Habitat distribution and community composition

Benthic habitats and fish usage/movements

Characterizations of the physical, chemical, and biological environments 
186 

Biodiversity studies

Habitat suitability model that can be used to predict where deep-water corals may be abundant

Priority 2 (P2): No datasets were assigned a P2. 

PROTOCOL FOR DATASET EVALUATION

Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) Additional Resources

http://www.whoi.edu/page.do?pid=11535

An evaluation of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) Additional Resources 

website was conducted on 6/30/10 - 7/06/10 by Amy Dalton (Atkins). The information links on 

this website are listed down the center of the page. The “Data Center” tab on the left of the page 

was documented in a separate search and has its own tracking spreadsheet (009 - WHOI Data 

Center). 

The web links found on the WHOI Additional Resources page were evaluated to determine 

whether data were readily available. If data appeared to be readily available, web links were 

followed until applicable datasets were located. The resulting datasets were documented in an 

Excel® spreadsheet and subsequently evaluated. If data did not appear to be readily available, 

the web link was typically not evaluated further but was documented in the spreadsheet. If 

available data were found under more than one web link, the data were included in the 

spreadsheet only under the web link where it was first identified. 

Threshold Criteria and Prioritization

To determine whether a particular WHOI Additional Resources dataset was relevant to the ESID 

project, it was first evaluated to determine whether the dataset met the two ESID Threshold 

Criteria:

Topic – the dataset applies, or may apply, to at least one of the ESID Resource Categories

Location – the dataset applies, or may apply, to the ESID study area 

The WHOI Additional Resources datasets were evaluated against the threshold criteria based 

upon the description provided on the website. 

Not Eligible: If a dataset did not meet either one of the ESID Threshold Criteria, then it was 

given a Priority 0 (P0) because the dataset is not relevant to the ESID project. The following 

dataset was also assigned a P0:

Geochemical data of ocean floor igneous and metamorphic rocks including major oxides, trace 

elements, stable and radiogenic isotope ratios, and analytical ages. 

Eligible: Those datasets that met both threshold criteria were considered eligible for the ESID. 

This search revealed no datasets that were identified as eligible for the ESID.

PROTOCOL FOR DATASET EVALUATION

NOAA New England Fishery Management Council (NEFMC) 

http://www.nefmc.org/
187 

An evaluation of the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration New England Fishery 

Management Council (NEFMC) website was conducted on 3/26/10 – 4/14/10 by Cheryl 

Wapnick (Atkins). The technical information links on this website are listed down the left side 

of the webpage. No query feature was available on the NEFMC website, so the URLs were 

followed until datasets were located. All web links were documented in an Excel® spreadsheet 

with a description of available data or information. The resulting datasets and web links were 

then evaluated for relevance to the ESID project. If available datasets were found under more 

than one web link, they are included in the Excel® spreadsheet only under the web link where 

they were first identified. Web links with access to publications were noted in the Excel® 

spreadsheet.

Primary web links that contained related sub-links were evaluated to determine if data were 

readily available. If data appeared to be readily available, web links were followed until the 

datasets were located. If data did not appear to be readily available, the sub-link was typically 

not evaluated further. Links obviously leading to websites that do not contain data (e.g., meeting 

summaries and agendas, stakeholder letters, public hearings, press releases, scoping hearings) 

were not searched exhaustively since their purpose was informational or public relations 

oriented. 

In many cases, the NEFMC website did not provide a direct link to a specific web link. In these 

instances, the new information was available under the previous web address. This is indicated 

in the spreadsheet.

Threshold Criteria and Prioritization

To determine whether a particular NEFMC dataset was relevant to the ESID project, it was first 

evaluated to determine whether the dataset met the two ESID Threshold Criteria:

Topic – the dataset applies, or may apply, to at least one of the ESID Resource Categories

Location – the dataset applies, or may apply, to the ESID study area

The NEFMC datasets were evaluated against the threshold criteria based upon the description 

provided on the website. 

Not Eligible: If a dataset did not meet either one of the ESID Threshold Criteria, then it was 

given a Priority 0 (P0) because the dataset is not relevant to the ESID project. The following 

datasets were also considered P0:

Datasets solely containing fisheries landings/catch data (no ecological or biological data).

Results of tagging surgery on monkfish (including mortality data). 

Eligible: Those datasets that met both threshold criteria were considered eligible for the ESID.

Priority 1 (P1) Datasets – The following datasets were also considered P1:

Lobster larvae data including distribution, stage composition and abundance of lobster larvae and 

post-larvae.
188 

Environmental contaminant data (e.g., metals, PCBs, and pesticides).

Zooplankton species abundance data. 

Priority 2 (P2) Datasets – The following datasets were considered P2:

Location information for human-designated management areas (MPAs, EFH, critical habitat) 

with no ecological data. 

Spatially explicit tag/recapture datasets.

Fisheries dependent catch data with some biological data (e.g., size, age, health of fish). 

PROTOCOL FOR DATASET EVALUATION

NOAA Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council (MAFMC)

http://www.mafmc.org/

An evaluation of the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration Mid-Atlantic Fishery 

Management Council (MAFMC) website was conducted on 5/6/10 – 5/11/10 by Mark Henry 

(Atkins). No query feature was available on the MAFMC website, so the web links were 

followed until datasets were located. The search originated with the web links located within the 

main website text, proceeded to the technical information links located on the left side of the web 

page, and terminated with the links located on the right side of the web page. All web links were 

documented in an Excel® spreadsheet with a description of available data or information. The 

resulting datasets and web links were then evaluated for relevance to the ESID project. If 

available datasets were found under more than one web link, they were included in the Excel® 

spreadsheet only under the web link where they were first identified. Web links with access to 

publications were noted in the Microsoft® Excel® spreadsheet.

Primary web links that contained related sub-links were evaluated to determine if data were 

readily available. If data appeared to be readily available, these web links were followed until 

the datasets were located. If data did not appear to be readily available, the sub-link was 

typically not evaluated further. Links obviously leading to websites that did not contain data 

(e.g., meeting summaries and agendas, stakeholder letters, public hearings, press releases, 

scoping hearings) were not searched exhaustively since their purpose was informational or public 

relations oriented. 

In many cases, the MAFMC website did not provide a direct link to a specific web page. In 

these instances, the new information was available under the previous web address. This is 

indicated in the spreadsheet.

Threshold Criteria and Prioritization

To determine whether a particular MAFMC dataset was relevant to the ESID project, it was first 

evaluated to determine whether the dataset met the two ESID Threshold Criteria:

 

1) Topic – the dataset applies, or may apply, to at least one of the ESID Resource 

Categories

2) Location – the dataset applies, or may apply, to the ESID study area 
189 

The MAFMC datasets were evaluated against the threshold criteria based upon the description 

provided on the website. 

Not Eligible: If a dataset did not meet either one of the ESID Threshold Criteria, then it was 

given a Priority 0 (P0) because the dataset is not relevant to the ESID project. The following 

datasets were also considered P0:

• Datasets solely containing fisheries landings/catch data (no ecological or biological 

data).

Eligible: Those datasets that met both threshold criteria were considered eligible for the ESID.

• Priority 1 (P1) Datasets – No P1 datasets were found on the MAFMC website. 

• Priority 2 (P2) Datasets – The following datasets were assigned P2: 

o Status of fishery resources off the northeastern United States - Status data, 

including distribution data, biology, management, fishery data, research vessel 

survey indices, and assessment results. 

o Species distribution maps

PROTOCOL FOR DATASET EVALUATION

NMFS Fishery Management Councils - South Atlantic Fishery Management Council (SAFMC) 

http://www.safmc.net/

An evaluation of the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) South Atlantic Fishery 

Management Council (SAFMC) website was conducted on 5/06/10 – 5/12/10 by Amit L. Hazra 

(Atkins). The website evaluation was broken into sections based on the HTML frames concept. 

The top frame includes all of the tabs which link to other sub-sites within the SAFMC website. 

Technical information potentially useful to the ESID was only available under some of the tabs 

and those pages are outlined in the Excel® spreadsheet. The Home, About Us, News, and 

Meetings tabs were briefly scanned for data and/or pertinent publication information but not 

recorded on the Excel® spreadsheet due to lack of any useful information or data products. The 

Library, Habitat/Ecosystem, Fish ID and Regs, Links, and Socio-Economic tabs were all 

thoroughly reviewed. Additionally, the left frame contains a Quick Links pane where access to 

technical information can also be accessed. All of these links were reviewed and summarized in 

the Excel® Spreadsheet. The Right frame dynamically changes based on the website topic. 

When related site information links were offered, each link was explored as an external website 

and was noted as such in the tracking spreadsheet.

Primary web links that contained related sub-links were evaluated to determine if data were 

readily available. If data appeared to be readily available, web links were followed until the 

datasets were located. If data did not appear to be readily available, the web link was typically 

not evaluated further. Reiterating from the above, links obviously leading to websites that do not 

contain data (e.g., meeting summaries and agendas, stakeholder letters, public hearings, press 

releases, scoping hearings) were not searched exhaustively since their purpose was informational 

or public relations oriented. 
190 

The website contains a generalized Search tool but there are no specific query data abilities 

connected to the tool. It is important to note that this website actually contains another website 

within it. The Ecosystem-Based Management website is a sub-site containing its own top frame 

tabs and web pages. When a user clicks on the Habitat/Ecosystem tab from the homepage 

website, the top frame tabs dynamically change to a new set of topics. This entire sub-website’s 

top frame tabs were also reviewed in the Excel® spreadsheet. It is also important to mention that 

only unique pages were recorded Excel® tracker. If available datasets were found under more 

than one web link, they were included in the Excel® spreadsheet only under the web link where 

they were first identified. Web links with access to publications were noted in the Excel® 

spreadsheet.

Threshold Criteria and Prioritization

To determine whether a particular SAFMC dataset was relevant to the ESID project, it was first 

evaluated to determine whether the dataset met the two ESID Threshold Criteria:

 

1) Topic – the dataset applies, or may apply, to at least one of the ESID Resource 

Categories

2) Location – the dataset applies, or may apply, to the ESID study area 

The SAFMC datasets were evaluated against the threshold criteria based upon the description 

provided on the website. 

Not Eligible: If a dataset did not meet either one of the ESID Threshold Criteria, then it was 

given a Priority 0 (P0) because the dataset is not relevant to the ESID project. The following 

datasets were also considered P0:

• Datasets solely containing fisheries landings data (no ecological or biological data).

Eligible: Those datasets that met both threshold criteria were considered eligible for the ESID. 

• Priority 1 (P1) Datasets – No P1 datasets were found on the SAFMC website.

• Priority 2 (P2) Datasets – The following datasets were assigned P2:

o Only location information for human-designated management areas (MPAs, EFH, 

critical habitat) with no ecological data.

o Fisheries dependent catch data with some biological data (e.g., size, age, health of 

fish). 

o Recapture maps for tagged species.

PROTOCOL FOR DATASET EVALUATION

Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) GIS Data

http://ocean.floridamarine.org/efh_coral/ims/Description_Layers.htm

An evaluation of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) GIS Data 

website was conducted from 5/11/10 - 6/3/10 by Tamara Mayer (Atkins). The available data on 

this website are grouped as topics, which include Base Map Description Layers, Ocean 

Observing Systems, Other Federally Managed Areas, Management and Regulatory, SAFMC 
191 

Gear Restrictions, SAFMC Essential Fish Habitat, Marine Sanctuaries, Unique Habitats, Coral 

HAPCs, SEAMAP Bottom Mapping, General Habitats, Estuaries, and Imagery. In addition, two 

website home pages were reviewed: the Fish and Wildlife Research Institute 

(http://research.myfwc.com/) and NOAA’s Office of Coast Survey

(http://www.nauticalcharts.noaa. gov/). Because the websites did not include a query feature, the 

web links were followed until datasets were located or the website was determined to not be 

applicable to the ESID project. Web links with applicable information or data to the ESID were 

documented in an Excel® spreadsheet. Those web links with access to publications were noted 

in the Excel® spreadsheet.

Threshold Criteria and Prioritization

To determine whether a particular FWC dataset was relevant to the ESID project, it was first 

evaluated to determine whether the dataset met the two ESID Threshold Criteria:

 

1) Topic – the dataset applies, or may apply, to at least one of the ESID Resource 

Categories

2) Location – the dataset applies, or may apply, to the ESID study area 

The FWC datasets were evaluated against the threshold criteria based upon the description 

provided on the website. 

Not Eligible: If a dataset did not meet either one of the ESID Threshold Criteria, then it was 

given a Priority 0 (P0) because the dataset is not relevant to the ESID project. The following 

datasets were also assigned a P0: 

• Data already held by MMS, including delineation of sand borrow areas offshore of 

North Carolina. 

Eligible: Those datasets that met both threshold criteria were considered eligible for the ESID. 

• Priority 1 (P1) Datasets – The following datasets were assigned P1:

o GIS benthic habitat data for Gray’s Reef National Marine Sanctuary, locations off 

the east coast of Florida (including Oculina Bank), and the eastern U.S. 

continental shelf from the VA/NC border south to Jupiter Inlet in FL. 

• Priority 2 (P2) Datasets – The following datasets were assigned P2:

o Benthic GIS data layers. Note that the only layer applicable to the ESID project is

the coral-hardbottom dataset. This dataset was assigned a P2 because it was 

generic and lacking in detail.

o Datasets containing fisheries landings/catch data with life history information on 

priority fishery species.

o A category of “P2M” was assigned to metadata identified as relevant to the ESID. 

(i.e., water quality metadata with nutrient concentrations or 

chlorophyll/phytoplankton biomass). 
192 

PROTOCOL FOR DATASET EVALUATION

USGS Coastal and Marine Geology Program 

http://coastalmap.marine.usgs.gov/

An evaluation of U.S. Geological Survey’s Coastal and Marine Geology Program (CMGP) 

website was conducted on 5/18/2010 – 5/24/2010 by Amit L. Hazra (Atkins). No query feature 

was available on the CMGP website, so the URLs were followed until datasets were located. 

The resulting datasets were documented in an Excel® spreadsheet and subsequently evaluated. 

Primary hyperlinks that contained related sub-hyperlinks were evaluated to determine if data 

were readily available. If data appeared to be readily available, hyperlinks were followed until 

the datasets were located. If data did not appear to be readily available, the hyperlink was 

typically not evaluated further. Links obviously leading to websites that do not contain data 

(e.g., publications and bibliographies, calendars, About Us, press releases etc.) were not searched 

exhaustively since they typically never yielded relevant data. URLs with access to publications 

were noted in the Excel® spreadsheet.

When related site information links were offered, each link was explored as an external website. 

Only links to websites that fall within the ESID study area were documented. It is important to 

note that this web portal has links (with data) to many regions of the country should the need 

arise to extend the search location criteria. As with other searches, in an effort to efficiently lead 

the spreadsheet user to the correct location(s) on a webpage, the website is referenced by frames 

(top, bottom, left, right). The links at the top frame go to the exact same web pages as those on 

the left frame. 

Portions of the CMGP website were reviewed in a separate tracking spreadsheet (012

usSEABED): the “Coastal and Marine Geology Program Internet Map Server”, the “Coastal and 

Marine Geology Program” page, and the CMGP Science Centers page. 

Threshold Criteria and Prioritization

To determine whether a particular dataset was relevant to the ESID project, it was first evaluated 

to determine whether the dataset met the two ESID Threshold Criteria:

 

1) Topic – the dataset applies, or may apply, to at least one of the ESID Resource 

Categories

2) Location – the dataset applies, or may apply, to the ESID study area 

The CMGP datasets were evaluated against the threshold criteria based on the description 

provided on the website. 

Not Eligible: Datasets that met the following criteria were given a Priority 0 (P0) because they 

are not relevant to the ESID project:

• Datasets that did not meet either one of the ESID Threshold Criteria

• Interactive mapping servers or viewers of data (because the data populating each 

interactive server/viewer was individually evaluated within the Excel® spreadsheet)
193 

Eligible: Those datasets that met both threshold criteria were considered eligible for the ESID.

• Priority 1 (P1) Datasets – The following datasets were assigned a P1:

o GIS datasets containing sediment sampling collection information, as well as 

relationships to published materials, and storage locations.

o Datasets collected at Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary, including 

fisheries abundance data, surficial sediment texture data, and copper and zinc 

concentration data in surficial sediments. 

o Sediment texture and contaminant data for Boston Harbor and Massachusetts 

Bay. 

• Priority 2 (P2) Datasets – No datasets were assigned a P2.

PROTOCOL FOR DATASET EVALUATION

USGS Marine Realms Information Bank

http://mrib.usgs.gov/

An evaluation of the USGS Marine Realms Information Bank (MRIB) website 

(http://mrib.usgs.gov/) was conducted from 5/20/10 – 5/27/10 by Amy Dalton (Atkins). Because 

the query feature available on the MRIB website conducts a search of all available datasets, it 

was determined that the most efficient method for evaluating the website was to assess the 

datasets themselves for applicability to the ESID project. Thus, from the USGS MRIB Home 

Page, the “Category>Location>Atlantic Ocean>North Atlantic Ocean” was chosen. A total of 

669 records were displayed as a result of this query. Of these results, only those links that may 

contain data within the study area were explored further. In addition, other links on the main 

MRIB Home Page (http://mrib.usgs.gov/) were perused for available datasets. From the MRIB 

Home Page, web links were followed and pertinent links were evaluated for relevancy to the 

project. URLs with access to publications were noted in the Excel spreadsheet; however, it is 

important to note that the MRIB site can also be queried for publications. 

Threshold Criteria and Prioritization

To determine whether a particular MRIB dataset was relevant to the ESID project, it was first 

evaluated to determine whether the dataset met the two ESID Threshold Criteria:

 

1) Topic – the dataset applies, or may apply, to at least one of the ESID Resource 

Categories

2) Location – the dataset applies, or may apply, to the ESID study area 

 

The MRIB datasets were evaluated against the threshold criteria based upon the description 

provided on the website. 

Not Eligible: If a dataset did not meet either one of the ESID Threshold Criteria, then it was 

given a Priority 0 (P0) because the dataset is not relevant to the ESID project.

Eligible: Those datasets that met both threshold criteria were considered eligible for the ESID.
194 

• Priority 1 (P1) Datasets – Sediment texture and concentrations of contaminants and 

metals in sediments. 

• Priority 2 (P2) Datasets – No P2 datasets were located on the MRIB website.

PROTOCOL FOR DATASET EVALUATION

Census of Marine Life’s Ocean Biogeographic Information System (OBIS)

http://www.coml.org/projects/ocean-biogeographic-information-system-obis

An evaluation of the Census of Marine Life’s Ocean Biogeographic Information System (OBIS) 

website, specifically (http://www.iobis.org/ ), was conducted on 5/10/10 - 5/18/10 by Amy 

Dalton (Atkins). The information links on the OBIS website are listed across the top of the 

webpage. The web links were followed until datasets were located. The resulting datasets were 

documented in an Excel® spreadsheet and subsequently evaluated. If available data was found 

under more than one web link, it was included in the spreadsheet only under the web link where 

it was first identified. It is important to note that not all links present on the main Census for 

Marine Life website (i.e., those links located on the left side of the assigned website) were 

documented in the Excel® spreadsheet, only those that contained pertinent data (i.e., data 

applicable to resource categories and within the project area).

Primary web links that contained related sub-links were evaluated to determine if data were 

readily available. If data appeared to be readily available, web links were followed until the 

datasets were located. If data did not appear to be readily available, the sub-link was typically 

not evaluated further. All links obviously leading to websites that do not contain data (e.g., 

books, press releases, films, etc.) were not evaluated further; however the existence of these links 

was described in the spreadsheet. Web links with access to publications were noted in the 

Excel® spreadsheet.

Threshold Criteria and Prioritization

To determine whether a particular OBIS dataset was relevant to the ESID project, it was first 

evaluated to determine whether the dataset met the two ESID Threshold Criteria:

1) Topic – the dataset applies, or may apply, to at least one of the ESID Resource 

Categories

2) Location – the dataset applies, or may apply, to the ESID study area 

The OBIS datasets were evaluated against the threshold criteria based upon the description 

provided on the website. 

Not Eligible: If a dataset did not meet either one of the ESID Threshold Criteria, then it was 

given a Priority 0 (P0) because the dataset is not relevant to the ESID project. 

Eligible: Those datasets that met both threshold criteria were considered eligible for the ESID.

• Priority 1 (P1) Datasets – The following datasets were assigned a P1:

o Relevant ecological data collected partially or completely within the study area. 
195 

o GIS shapefiles depicting habitat data for Stellwagen Bank National Marine 

Sanctuary, which is an ecologically important habitat within the study area. 

o Water quality data (CTD, phytoplankton, nutrients) with biological components 

(zooplankton abundance). 

o A category of “P1M” was assigned to metadata identified as relevant to the ESID. 

This includes: 

 Marine species population data (corresponding data presented in other rows of 

spreadsheet).

 GIS shapefile data depicting habitat data for Stellwagen Bank National 

Marine Sanctuary (corresponding data presented in other row of spreadsheet).

 Water quality data with biological components (corresponding data presented 

in other row of spreadsheet). 

• Priority 2 (P2) Datasets – The following datasets were assigned a P2:

o Distribution maps with geographical relevance but no other data (simply location 

of occurrence).

o Water quality data with chlorophyll/phytoplankton biomass data. 

o Seafloor topography data of a very limited study area within the outer continental 

shelf (OCS). This was also assigned as baseline data (“B” within the 

spreadsheet).

o A category of “P2M” was assigned to metadata identified as relevant to the ESID. 

This includes: 

 Juvenile lobster abundance and distribution data using tag/recapture 

techniques.

 Datasets consisting largely of catch data with some length/weight data that 

could be applicable to ecological investigations.

PROTOCOL FOR DATASET EVALUATION

American Fisheries Society (AFS)

http://www.fisheries.org/afs/index.html

An evaluation of the American Fisheries Society (AFS) website was conducted on 5/24/2010 – 

5/27/2010 by Amit L. Hazra (Atkins). Each major section of the website was thoroughly 

reviewed in order to locate any pertinent ESID datasets; however, none of the major sub-sections 

yielded any data. This website is the main portal by which the AFS promotes their policy, 

manages membership, and promotes education, certification, and jobs. Since this is not a datacentric website, only the main pages were documented in the Excel® tracker. When related site 

information links were offered, each link was explored as an external website. Primary 

hyperlinks that contained related sub-hyperlinks were evaluated to determine if data were readily 

available. If data appeared to be readily available, hyperlinks were followed until the datasets 

were located. If data did not appear to be readily available, the hyperlink was typically not 

evaluated further. Web links with access to publications were noted in the Excel® spreadsheet. 

Reiterating from above, links obviously leading to websites that do not contain data (e.g., 

meeting summaries and agendas, policy letters, public hearings, press releases, certification 
196 

instructions, etc.) were not searched exhaustively since their purpose was informational or public 

relations oriented. 

Links to News Feeds and Twitter were not included in this search. The external links at the 

bottom of the webpage were also omitted from the search since they have no relevance to science 

or the ESID project. The website contains a custom Google Search tool to use for keyword 

searches.

Threshold Criteria and Prioritization

To determine whether a particular dataset was relevant to the ESID project, it was first evaluated 

to determine whether the dataset met the two ESID Threshold Criteria:

 

1) Topic – the dataset applies, or may apply, to at least one of the ESID Resource 

Categories

2) Location – the dataset applies, or may apply, to the ESID study area 

 

The AFS datasets were evaluated against the threshold criteria based upon the description 

provided on the website. 

Not Eligible: If a dataset did not meet either one of the ESID Threshold Criteria, then it was 

given a Priority 0 (P0) because the dataset is not relevant to the ESID project.

Eligible: Those datasets that met both threshold criteria were considered eligible for the ESID. 

This search revealed no datasets that were identified as eligible for the ESID.

PROTOCOL FOR DATASET EVALUATION

National Biological Information Infrastructure (NBII)

http://www.nbii.gov/

An evaluation of the National Biological Information Infrastructure (NBII) website was 

conducted on 8/6/10 by Leslie Duncan (Atkins). No query feature was available; thus, the site’s 

web links were followed until datasets were located. From the NBII home page, the tabs along 

the top frame (i.e., About NBII, Plants Animals and Other Organisms, Habitats, Ecological 

Topics, Geographic Perspectives, and Toolkit) were thoroughly searched for data. Each web link 

was assessed for relevancy to the ESID project and documented in an Excel® spreadsheet with a 

description of any available data or information. Because technical information that is 

potentially relevant to the ESID was only available under some of these tabs, only those web 

pages are included in the Excel® spreadsheet. The Plants Animals and Other Organisms, 

Ecological Topics, Geographic Perspectives and Toolkit tabs were scanned for data and/or 

pertinent information but not recorded on the Excel® spreadsheet due to lack of any useful 

information or data products. In addition, the Standards, Data and Tools, and Explore NBII's 

Information Regionally portions of the web page were also thoroughly searched for data. No 

additional data potentially applicable to the ESID was located.
197 

Primary web links that contained related sub-links were evaluated to determine if data were 

readily available. If data appeared to be readily available, web links were followed until the 

datasets were located. If data did not appear to be readily available, the sub-link was typically 

not evaluated further. 

It is important to note that only unique pages were recorded in the Excel® tracker. If available 

datasets were found under more than one web link, they were included in the Excel® spreadsheet 

only under the web link where they were first identified. Web links with access to publications 

were noted in the Excel® spreadsheet.

Threshold Criteria and Prioritization

To determine whether a particular NBII dataset was relevant to the ESID project, it was first 

evaluated to determine whether the dataset met the two ESID Threshold Criteria:

1) Topic – the dataset applies, or may apply, to at least one of the ESID Resource 

Categories

2) Location – the dataset applies, or may apply, to the ESID study area 

The NBII datasets were evaluated against the threshold criteria based upon the description

provided on the website. 

Not Eligible: If a dataset did not meet either one of the ESID Threshold Criteria, then it was 

given a Priority 0 (P0) because the dataset is not relevant to the ESID project.

Eligible: Those datasets that met both threshold criteria were considered eligible for the ESID 

and were categorized as Priority 1 (P1) or Priority 2 (P2). 

• Priority 1 (P1) Datasets – The following datasets were assigned a P1:

o Zooplankton abundance and species data

• Priority 2 (P2): The following datasets were assigned a P2:

o Mollusk occurrence tabulation data in the Atlantic Ocean

PROTOCOL FOR DATASET EVALUATION 

Center for Coastal & Ocean Mapping Joint Hydrographic Center (CCOM) 

http://ccom.unh.edu/

An evaluation of the University of New Hampshire’s Center for Coastal & Ocean Mapping Joint 

Hydrographic Center (CCOM) website was conducted on 5/13/10 – 5/14/10 by Amit L. Hazra 

(Atkins). The CCOM website contains a generalized Search tool but there are no specific query 

data abilities connected to the tool; thus, the web links were followed in search of data. 

Technical information potentially useful to the ESID project was only available under some of 

the tabs on the CCOM website. Relevant pages were visited and web links were documented in 

an Excel® spreadsheet and subsequently evaluated for relevance to the ESID project. The About 

Us, Education, Outreach, and Publications tabs were briefly scanned for data and/or pertinent 
198 

publication information; however, these links were not recorded on the Excel® spreadsheet due 

to lack of useful information or data products. Primary hyperlinks that contained related sublinks were evaluated to determine if data were readily available. If data appeared to be readily 

available, hyperlinks were followed until the datasets were located. If data did not appear to be 

readily available, the hyperlink was typically not evaluated further. Only unique pages are 

recorded in the Excel® spreadsheet. When a tab or sub-tab revealed a web link which was 

previously visited, the web link was not documented twice. 

URLs with access to publications were noted in the Excel® spreadsheet. The Publications tab 

does contain a vast list of scientific peer-reviewed publications in reference format mostly 

related to seafloor mapping and remote sensing techniques. The link tree located on the Left

frame was not reviewed because the links are all redundant to the tabs at the top frame. The 

search focused on the Research tab, where all of the sub-tabs were visited and documented in the 

Excel® spreadsheet. When related site information links were offered, each link was explored as 

an external website.

The homepage has a link to the Data Visualization Research Lab. This is an internal sub-site 

within the main CCOM website. It contains its own set of topics. The People, Education, and 

Contact Us were all briefly reviewed; however, no information pertinent to the ESID project was 

located. Therefore, the only documented topic in the spreadsheet within this sub-site is the 

Projects topic. 

Threshold Criteria and Prioritization

To determine whether a particular dataset was relevant to the ESID project, it was first evaluated 

to determine whether the dataset met the two ESID Threshold Criteria:

 

1) Topic – the dataset applies, or may apply, to at least one of the ESID Resource 

Categories 

2) Location – the dataset applies, or may apply, to the ESID study area 

The CCOM datasets were evaluated against the threshold criteria based upon the description 

provided on the website. 

Not Eligible: If a dataset did not meet either one of the ESID Threshold Criteria, then it was 

given a Priority 0 (P0) because the dataset is not relevant to the ESID project. 

The only data found on the CCOM website consisted of bathymetry/backscatter data for the 

North Atlantic Ocean. These datasets were assigned a priority “B”. All other data and web links 

were assigned a P0.
199 

PROTOCOL FOR DATASET EVALUATION 

NOAA Fisheries Geographic Information Systems – Data (NMFS GIS)

http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/gis/data/index.htm

An evaluation of the NOAA Fisheries Geographic Information Systems – Data (NMFS GIS) 

website was conducted on 5/14/2010 – 5/18/2010 by Amit L. Hazra (Atkins). No query feature 

was available on the NMFS GIS website, so the URLs were followed until datasets were located. 

Since the website assigned in this evaluation was specific to the “Data” section of the larger 

NMFS GIS website, only links on this page were reviewed. The resulting datasets were 

documented in an Excel® spreadsheet and subsequently evaluated. None of the other tabs on the 

left frame of the website were searched. URLs with access to publications were noted in the 

Excel® spreadsheet.

The two main sections reviewed in this webpage were “Fisheries Data” and “External Data”. 

Each topic in the “Fisheries Data” section was separated by geographic region. Although each 

section was independently reviewed and assessed for relevance, only geographic regions 

pertinent to the ESID project were in included in the project tracker Excel® spreadsheet. The 

External Data section provided links to web portals; however, a majority of the topics led to the 

same portal. In the Excel® spreadsheet, the web address column lists all the hyperlinks in series 

that share the same URL (e.g., Water Quality Data, Stream Flow Data, General Mapping data, 

Topography Data, are all linked to the same U.S. Geological Survey web address: 

http://www.usgs.gov/).

When related site information links were offered, each link was explored as an external website. 

Primary hyperlinks that contained related sub-hyperlinks were evaluated to determine whether 

data were readily available. If data appeared to be readily available, the hyperlinks were 

followed until the datasets were located. If data did not appear to be readily available, the 

hyperlink was typically not evaluated further. Links obviously leading to websites that do not 

contain data (e.g., meeting summaries and agendas, stakeholder letters, public hearings, press 

releases, scoping hearings) were not searched exhaustively since their purpose was informational 

or public relations oriented. 

Threshold Criteria and Prioritization

To determine whether a particular dataset was relevant to the ESID project, it was first evaluated 

to determine whether the dataset met the two ESID Threshold Criteria:

 

1) Topic – the dataset applies, or may apply, to at least one of the ESID Resource 

Categories

2) Location – the dataset applies, or may apply, to the ESID study area

The NMFS GIS datasets were evaluated against the threshold criteria based upon the description 

provided on the website. 

Not Eligible: If a dataset did not meet either one of the ESID Threshold Criteria, then it was 

given a Priority 0 (P0) because the dataset is not relevant to the ESID project.
200 

Eligible: Those datasets that met both threshold criteria were considered eligible for the ESID. 

• Priority 1 (P1) Datasets – No datasets were assigned a P1. 

• Priority 2 (P2) Datasets – Those following datasets were assigned a P2:

o Location information for human-designated management areas (MPAs, EFH, 

critical habitat) with no additional ecological data.

PROTOCOL FOR DATASET EVALUATION 

Global Ecosystems Database (GED)

http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/ecosys/cdroms/ged_iia/go.htm#top

An evaluation of the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration’s Global 

Ecosystems Database (GED) website was conducted on 8/18/10 by Leslie Duncan (Atkins). Any 

datasets encountered during the website review were documented in an Excel® spreadsheet and 

subsequently evaluated. The information links on this website are listed across the top and 

bottom of the web page. The links on the top of the web page (i.e., Getting Started, About the 

Project, and How to Cite) were not documented in the Excel® spreadsheet because the tabs did 

not lead to data. Similarly, three of the four links located on the bottom of the web page (i.e.,

User’s Guide, Software, and Using GIS) were not documented because they did not contain data. 

All sub-links under the Datasets link were documented in the Excel® spreadsheet and 

subsequently evaluated. Web links with access to publications were noted in the Excel® 

spreadsheet.

Threshold Criteria and Prioritization

To determine whether a particular Global Ecosystems Database website dataset was relevant to 

the ESID project, it was first evaluated to determine whether the dataset met the two ESID 

Threshold Criteria: 

1) Topic – the dataset applies, or may apply, to at least one of the ESID Resource 

Categories

2) Location – the dataset applies, or may apply, to the ESID study area 

The GED datasets were evaluated against the threshold criteria based upon the description 

provided on the website. 

Not Eligible: If a dataset did not meet either one of the ESID Threshold Criteria, then it was 

given a Priority 0 (P0) because the dataset is not relevant to the ESID project. 

Eligible: Those datasets that met both threshold criteria were considered eligible for the ESID. 

This search revealed no datasets that were identified as eligible for the ESID.
201 

PROTOCOL FOR DATASET EVALUATION 

Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory (LDEO) Database & Repositories

http://www.ldeo.columbia.edu/research/databases-repositories

An evaluation of the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory (LDEO) Database & Repositories 

website was conducted on 5/27/2010 – 6/3/2010 by Amit L. Hazra (Atkins). This webpage is an 

aggregation of all of the research databases and data repositories related to the LDEO. For each 

listed database web portal, the internal research abstract page was documented and then the link 

to the external website was followed. Each link was explored as an external website. Primary 

hyperlinks that contained related sub-hyperlinks were evaluated to determine if data were readily

available. If data appeared to be readily available, hyperlinks were followed until the datasets 

were located. If data did not appear to be readily available, the hyperlink was typically not 

evaluated further. 

The top frame tabs on the webpage were not reviewed since the target webpage was specific to a 

sub-page of the greater LDEO website. The left frame tabs were scanned to ensure that all of the 

database and repository webpages on the LDEO website were reviewed.

Many of the database/repository websites were actually links to the exact same search tool 

(MARGINS Data Portal). In these cases, the tracker notes reference rows where the site or 

search tool had already been documented. Of particular interest for data mining, this website 

contains an external link to the MGDS: Virtual Ocean Application. Once the application is 

downloaded and installed, it gives the user the ability to download a majority of the data found in 

all of the external links documented in the Excel® tracker.

Threshold Criteria and Prioritization

To determine whether a particular dataset was relevant to the ESID project, it was first evaluated 

to determine whether the dataset met the two ESID Threshold Criteria:

1) Topic – the dataset applies, or may apply, to at least one of the ESID Resource 

Categories

2) Location – the dataset applies, or may apply, to the ESID study area 

The LDEO Database and Repositories datasets were evaluated against the threshold criteria 

based upon the description provided on the website.

Not Eligible: If a dataset did not meet either one of the ESID Threshold Criteria, then it was 

given a Priority 0 (P0) because the dataset is not relevant to the ESID project. The following 

datasets were also assigned a P0:

• Data from deep coring projects, including studies of plate tectonics, earth's crustal 

structure and composition, conditions in ancient oceans, and paleoclimatology. 

Eligible: Those datasets that met both threshold criteria were considered eligible for the ESID.

• Priority 1 (P1) Datasets – No datasets were assigned a P1. 
202 

• Priority 2 (P2) Datasets – The following links were assigned a P2: 

o Global deep-sea sediment core sample data

o Marine sediment geochemistry data

PROTOCOL FOR DATASET EVALUATION

Marine Sciences at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

http://marine.unc.edu/

An evaluation of the Marine Sciences at University of North Carolina Chapel Hill (UNCCH) 

website was conducted from 5/27/10 - 6/03/10 by Amy Dalton (Atkins). The information links 

on this website are listed across the top and down the left side of the web page. All web links on 

the target website were documented in an Excel® spreadsheet and subsequently evaluated. If 

available data was found under more than one web link, it was included in the spreadsheet only 

under the web link where it was first identified. Links to external websites were briefly explored 

for data. If data appeared to be readily available, web links were followed until the datasets were 

located. If data did not appear to be readily available, the sub-link was typically not evaluated 

further. URLs with access to publications were noted in the Microsoft® Excel® spreadsheet.

In addition to the general search described above, the word “data” was also entered into the web 

page’s query (“search”) feature. This query produced 32 results and each was evaluated and 

documented in the Excel® spreadsheet.

Threshold Criteria and Prioritization

To determine whether a particular dataset was relevant to the ESID project, it was first evaluated 

to determine whether the dataset met the two ESID Threshold Criteria:

 

1) Topic – the dataset applies, or may apply, to at least one of the ESID Resource 

Categories

2) Location – the dataset applies, or may apply, to the ESID study area 

 

The UNCCH datasets were evaluated against the threshold criteria based upon the description 

provided on the website. 

Not Eligible: If a dataset did not meet either one of the ESID Threshold Criteria, then it was 

given a Priority 0 (P0) because the dataset is not relevant to the ESID project.

Eligible: Those datasets that met both threshold criteria were considered eligible for the ESID. 

There were no UNCCH datasets that were identified as eligible for the ESID.

PROTOCOL FOR DATASET EVALUATION 

Baruch Institute for Marine and Coastal Sciences (BIMCS)

http://www.baruch.sc.edu/

An evaluation of the University of South Carolina’s Baruch Institute for Marine and Coastal 

Sciences (BIMCS) website was conducted from 6/11/10 - 6/14/10 by Amy Dalton (Atkins). No 
203 

query feature was available on the BIMCS website, so the URLs were followed until datasets 

were located. The information links on this website are listed across the top and down the left 

side of the web page. The resulting datasets were documented in an Excel® spreadsheet and 

subsequently evaluated. If available data was found under more than one URL, it was included 

in the spreadsheet under the URL where it was first identified. URLs with access to publications 

were noted in the Excel® spreadsheet.

Threshold Criteria and Prioritization

To determine whether a particular Baruch Institute for Marine and Coastal Sciences dataset was 

relevant to the ESID project, it was first evaluated to determine whether the dataset met the two 

ESID Threshold Criteria:

 

1) Topic – the dataset applies, or may apply, to at least one of the ESID Resource 

Categories

2) Location – the dataset applies, or may apply, to the ESID study area 

The BIMCS datasets were evaluated against the threshold criteria based upon the description 

provided on the website. 

Not Eligible: If a dataset did not meet either one of the ESID Threshold Criteria, then it was 

given a Priority 0 (P0) because the dataset is not relevant to the ESID project. 

Eligible: Those datasets that met both threshold criteria were considered eligible for the ESID. 

This search revealed no datasets that were identified as eligible for the ESID.

PROTOCOL FOR DATASET EVALUATION

Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO) Library 

http://libraries.ucsd.edu/locations/sio/

An evaluation of the Scripps Institute of Oceanography (SIO) Library website was conducted 

from 6/04/10 to 6/11/10 by Amy Dalton (Atkins). The web links found on the SIO Library web 

page were evaluated to determine whether data were readily available. If data appeared to be 

readily available, web links were followed until applicable datasets were located. The resulting 

datasets were documented in a Microsoft® Excel® spreadsheet and subsequently evaluated. If 

data did not appear to be readily available, the web link was typically not evaluated further but 

was documented in the spreadsheet. If available data were found under more than one web link, 

the data were included in the spreadsheet only under the web link where it was first identified. 

Web links with access to publications were noted in the Excel® spreadsheet.

Threshold Criteria and Prioritization

To determine whether a particular SIO Library dataset was relevant to the ESID project, it was 

first evaluated to determine whether the dataset met the two ESID Threshold Criteria:

 

1) Topic – the dataset applies, or may apply, to at least one of the ESID Resource 

Categories
204 

2) Location – the dataset applies, or may apply, to the ESID study area 

The SIO Library datasets were evaluated against the threshold criteria based upon the description 

provided on the website. 

Not Eligible: If a dataset did not meet either one of the ESID Threshold Criteria, then it was 

given a Priority 0 (P0) because the dataset is not relevant to the ESID project. 

Eligible: Those datasets that met both threshold criteria were considered eligible for the ESID.

• Priority 1 (P1) Datasets – The following datasets were assigned a P1:

o Distributional data of hexacorallians in the Atlantic Ocean.

o GIS data showing the distribution of endangered/threatened species within the 

ESID project area.

o Distribution and characterization of deep-sea coral and sponge ecosystems within 

the EEZ.

o Ecological characterization of Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary. 

o Benthic mapping and benthic resource data for Gray’s Reef National Marine 

Sanctuary. 

o GIS data and maps of anthropogenic impacts within ESID project area. 

o GIS data and maps showing the distribution of marine habitats within the ESID 

project area.

• Priority 2 (P2) Datasets – The following datasets were assigned a P2:

o Location information for human-designated management areas (MPAs, EFH, 

critical habitat) with no additional ecological data.

o Aquatic species distribution maps. 

PROTOCOL FOR DATASET EVALUATION

SCRIPPS Institute of Oceanography - Key Databases for Oceanography & Earth Sciences (SIO 

Databases)

http://libraries.ucsd.edu/locations/sio/resources/key-databases-for-oceanography-earthsciences.html

The SCRIPPS Institute of Oceanography’s Key Databases for Oceanography & Earth Sciences 

(SIO Databases) website contains a list of databases that contain documents (e.g., abstracts, 

publications, books, reports, conference proceedings) and requires a user’s login information. 

Because no datasets are available on this website, an Excel® spreadsheet was not developed.

PROTOCOL FOR DATASET EVALUATION

NOVA Southeastern University (NSU) Oceanographic Center 

http://www.nova.edu/ocean/

An evaluation of the NOVA Southeastern University (NSU) Oceanographic Center website was 

conducted on 6/4/10 by Tamara Mayer (Atkins). This web site is primarily used for student 
205 

recruitment. The NSU website contains a generalized Search tool but there are no specific query 

data abilities connected to the tool; thus, the web links were followed in search of data. The 

resulting datasets were documented in a Microsoft® Excel® spreadsheet and subsequently 

evaluated. Technical information and data were available under two of the tabs (i.e., Prospective 

Students and Faculty/Staff) on the target web page. The Current Students, Our Graduates, and 

About Us tabs were briefly scanned for data and/or pertinent publication information but not 

recorded on the Excel® spreadsheet due to lack of any useful information or data products. Web 

links with access to publications were noted in the Excel® spreadsheet.

The Associated Institutes listed on the home page provided external links to the National Coral 

Reef Institute (NCRI), the Guy Harvey Research Institute, and Broward County’s Florida Sea 

Turtle Conservation Program. These external websites provided information or data, but were 

not applicable to the ESID. 

Threshold Criteria and Prioritization

To determine whether a particular NSU dataset was relevant to the ESID project, it was first 

evaluated to determine whether the dataset met the two ESID Threshold Criteria:

1) Topic – the dataset applies, or may apply, to at least one of the ESID Resource 

Categories

2) Location – the dataset applies, or may apply, to the ESID study area 

 

The NSU datasets were evaluated against the threshold criteria based upon the description 

provided on the website. 

Not Eligible: If a dataset did not meet either one of the ESID Threshold Criteria, then it was 

given a Priority 0 (P0) because the dataset is not relevant to the ESID project. 

Eligible: Those datasets that met both threshold criteria were considered eligible for the ESID. 

This search revealed no datasets that were identified as eligible for the ESID.

PROTOCOL FOR DATASET EVALUATION

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

http://www.noaa.gov/

An evaluation of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) websitewas 

conducted from 6/4/10 to 8/10/10 by Tamara Mayer and Amy Dalton (Atkins). Any datasets 

encountered during the website review were documented in a Microsoft® Excel® spreadsheet 

and subsequently evaluated. The information links on this website are listed down the left and 

right sides of the page and across the top. The information links on the top left of the webpage 

(i.e., About NOAA, Contacts, Staff Directory, and Help) were not documented because the tabs 

did not lead to data. The links within the section NOAA Responds to the Deepwater Horizon BP 

Oil Spill were also not documented on the Excel® spreadsheet because the information pertains 

to the Gulf of Mexico and is outside of the project area. Similarly, the tabs located on the left 

side of the webpage (i.e., Active Weather Alerts, NOAA Organizations, Working with NOAA, 
206 

Media & Constituents, NOAA in Your State, Budget Information, Emergency Information for 

NOAA Employees, NOAA Watch, Tropical Weather Updates, Gulf Response, and Disaster 

Assistance) and the news links (NOAA News and NOAA Now) were not documented because 

they either did not contain data or did not contain data applicable to the ESID. The eight tabs 

listed under the heading Explore NOAA were followed until datasets were located. If available 

data was found under more than one web link, it was included in the spreadsheet only under the 

web link where it was first identified.

Primary web links on the main webpage that contained related sub-links were evaluated to 

determine if data were readily available. If data appeared to be readily available, web links were 

followed until the datasets were located. If data did not appear to be readily available, the sublink was typically not evaluated further but was documented in the spreadsheet. 

Threshold Criteria and Prioritization

To determine whether a particular NOAA website dataset was relevant to the ESID project, it 

was first evaluated to determine whether the dataset met the two ESID Threshold Criteria:

1) Topic – the dataset applies, or may apply, to at least one of the ESID Resource 

Categories

2) Location – the dataset applies, or may apply, to the ESID study area 

The NOAA datasets were evaluated against the threshold criteria based upon the description 

provided on the website. 

Not Eligible: If a dataset did not meet either one of the ESID Threshold Criteria, then it was 

given a Priority 0 (P0) because the dataset is not relevant to the ESID project. 

Eligible: Those datasets that met both threshold criteria were considered eligible for the ESID.

• Priority 1 (P1) Datasets – Those datasets that contain exotic/invasive species 

information within the study area. 

• Priority 2 (P2) Datasets – Those datasets that only contain location information for 

human-designated management areas (MPAs, EFH, critical habitat) with no 

ecological data.
207 

Appendix J

Example of Inter-library Loan Receipt

209 
210 
211 

Appendix K

 

Example of Copyright Permission Letter

213 

215 

Appendix L

Preliminary Data List

217 

INTRODUCTION

This report describes the content for the deliverable “Preliminary List of Data to be 

incorporated into the ESID” prepared under DOI/BOEM contract M09PC00047 for the 

EcoSpatial Information Database (ESID).

According to contract requirements Section F.4.E, the following are to be submitted twelve 

(12) months after contract award: 

• The contractor shall prepare and submit a preliminary list of data to be incorporated 

into the ESID.

This list contains both printed and electronic references and all have bibliographic entries 

which are accessible through a Microsoft® Access® database (version 2002) included in 

this submittal. The ESID will also contain resource boundaries and metadata on both layer 

and feature level as described in deliverable F.4 ESID Design and Prototype Test Database 

provided to BOEM March 22, 2010 for all entries included in this list.
218 

 

PRELIMINARY RESOURCE LIST

The preliminary list of data reflects all resources to be incorporated into the ESID and 

contains both resource documents (Literature/Printed References) and web pages 

(Electronic References). All resources for both groups have bibliographic entries and can 

be queried through the Microsoft® Access® database provided.

The following resource categories were used to search for resources (Literature/Printed 

References) to be included in the ESID:

• Geology 

• Water Quality

• Pelagic Ecology

• Infauna/Meiofauna (Benthic Ecology) 

• Demersal Fish (Benthic Ecology) 

• Coral/Hardbottom (Benthic Ecology)

• Seagrass (Benthic Ecology) 

Concurrently with the literature searches, dataset searches (Electronic References) were 

performed. The source of potential datasets is the Internet, which was searched for 

potential GIS and non-GIS data relevant to the ESID. The electronic references are not 

necessarily devoted to one resource category. Additional procedures were developed to 

document the dataset process, which was described in further detail in Quarterly Report 

provided to BOEM April 30, 2010. 

Per conversations with BOEM it was decided to deliver the preliminary list in a 

Microsoft® Access® format for the ability to query data tables and create customized 

outputs. This deliverable includes this preliminary resource report and a Microsoft®

Access® database (ESID_Preliminary_List.mdb).
219 

Figure 1. ESID_Preliminary_List.mdb.

The Microsoft® Access® database will open to a user form which will permit the user to 

view a tabular list of all resources to be included in the ESID. Also, the list can be filtered 

through the provided dropdown queries. The query will for example allow a list of 

resources to be created for the “Demersal Fish” category only. 

Figure 2. Query form for resource categories output.

The preliminary resource list can be filtered by “ESID” field, which is a unique identifier 

for resources in the database. Reports can be generated to view the Abstracts or the 

Locations (geographic characterization location description) in an easier to read format. 

Detailed documentation for using this form and querying the preliminary list of resources is 

attached as Appendix A. 
220 

STATISTICS

The Preliminary Resource List deliverable contains only resources that have been reviewed 

by the internal science review team (ISRT) and identified as priority 1. Each resource will 

have only one category; however it may have been reviewed by multiple ISRT members in 

other categories as well. If a resource was reviewed in multiple categories, the “Priority” 

field will show the additional categories along with the priority. Additionally, websites that 

were reviewed for relevance to the ESID were not assigned categories as they did not have 

the same search protocol as literature based searches. The table below outlines the total 

resources in the Preliminary Resource List by category (including websites).

Table 1.

Category summary table:

Category Count

Geology 776

Water Quality 480

Pelagic Ecology 693

Infauna/Meiofauna (Benthic Ecology) 432

Demersal Fish (Benthic Ecology) 461

Coral/Hardbottom (Benthic Ecology) 90

Seagrass (Benthic Ecology) 1

Websites 394

Total Resources 3327

The ESID contains three levels of distribution; copyright restricted, open access, and 

online. Copyright restricted means the resource contain a restriction on the amount of users 

who can view the document. Open access permits a larger group to view the document; 

however copyright may still be a factor in distribution. Online refers to resources that are 

accessible online and are not restricted by copyright for viewing. 

Table 2.

Distribution summary table:

Distribution Count

Copyright Restricted 2140

Open Access 435

Online 392

Not Yet Acquired 360
221 

While the preliminary resource table contains all priority 1 resources to be included in the 

ESID, not all of the resources have been acquired at the time of this deliverable. The 

distribution status of un-acquired documents can’t be determined. Currently 8 of the 3327 

priority 1 resources are unable to be acquired for various reasons. 

HELP DOCUMENTATION

The ESID Preliminary Resource List Microsoft® Access® Form can show, filter, and 

generate reports for the preliminary ESID resources.

CONTROLS

The form controls are split into 4 groups, View, Search, Filter, and Show. 

Figure 1. Preliminary resource list form.

The View control is a two state option group. The two choices, Citation View and Full 

Reference View, are mutually exclusive. When “Citation View” is selected (radio button 

with a black dot inside), the data shown in table view will be an abbreviated version 

showing minimal fields. When “Full Reference View” is selected, the entire table will be 

shown with all fields available. The selected view will be applied to both “Search” and 

“Filter” results. A list of fields included in the annotated bibliography and the 

corresponding descriptions is included at the end of this document for reference. 

The Search control consists of a check box used to activate the control and a text box used 

to enter in the unique ESID ID value. When “Search by ESID ID” is checked, it overrides 

all controls in the “Filter” control. When it is not checked, the Search control is disabled 

and the filters are enabled. When the Search control is enabled, the user can enter a specific 

ESID ID into the search text box. The results of the search will show only the specified 

resource, the data can be viewed by clicking any of the three buttons in the “Show” control. 

This will only return the one row of data that corresponds to the specific ESID ID value. 

The Filter control will filter results by the selected “Filter” control values. Multiple filters 

can be used at once to further refine the result. Select a value in one or more filters and 

click any of the three buttons in the “Show” control. This will result with data containing 

all of the values selected. To reset all of the filters back to “All Values” (the default 

selection) click the “Reset Filters” button located under the filter options. 
222 

The available filter options are listed below:

• The “Reference Type” filter includes all of the types of resources (i.e. journal or 

conference proceeding).

• The “Source Type” filter includes all of the formats of resources (i.e. print or 

electronic). 

• The “Category” filter includes all ISRT search categories.

• The “Distribution” filter includes all copyright categories.

• The “Cost” filter returns resources with cost information or blank. 

• The “Acquired” filter returns resources that have been acquired or not. 

Figure 2. Filter reset button.

The Show control consists of 3 buttons to activate table and report views of the resource 

list. The “View Table” button shows an Access® table that fits the criteria in the “Search” 

or “Filter” controls. It will show “Citation View” or “Full Reference View” of the table, 

depending on the selected value in the View control. 

The “View Abstract” and “View Locations” buttons show similar reports. The reports 

differ in that one shows the full “Abstract” value of results and the other shows the 

“Location” value of results. The data that is displayed in the “Abstract” and “Location” 

reports is not affected by the View controls. The “Search” and “Filter” controls will 

control which values are returned in the reports.
223 

Figure 3. View abstract filter and report.

PRINTING AND EXPORTING

Microsoft® Access® provides functionality to print or export tables and reports. To print a 

table or report, click the print button at the top left of the Access® toolbar or click on 

the File menu and choose “Print”. The Windows® print dialogue will appear. Choose the 

printer or file location and format and click the OK button to begin printing. 

To export a table or report into another format, select the File menu option at the top left of 

the Access® main menu. Choose “Export”. The Access® export dialogue will appear. 

Select the format in which to export and the correct file path. Click the Export button to 

export. 
224 

Figure 1. View export option in File menu.

The table below shows all fields included in the “Resources” table within the Access® 

database. Also included is the description for each field. This table is the preliminary 

resource list and is basis for queries made. 
225 

Table 1.

Database Field Descriptions

Database Field Description

ESID Unique ID for the resource.

Year Year resource was produced.

Author Resource author name.

Title Title of resource.

Abstract Abstract of publication.

Descriptor Keywords found within the resource.

Notes Additional information about the resource.

Reference Type Type of resource (i.e. journal or conference proceeding).

Source Type Format of resource (i.e. hard copy or electronic).

Periodical Full Full description of source periodical.

Periodical Short Short description of source periodical.

Conference Date Date of conference if applicable.

Volume Volume of document.

Issue Issue of document.

Start Page Starting page of resource within publication.

ISSN-ISBN Unique identifier for periodicals.

Author Address Author contact information.

Accession 

Number Sequential number given to new publications.

DOI Digital Object identifier: unique document identifier.

Language Language document was written in.

Subfile Additional associated files. 

Output Language Current language of the document.

Other Pages Other relevant pages within the publication.

Series Title Title of the publication series. 

Publisher Publisher of the resource.

Publication Place Place of resource publication.

Links Hyperlink to documentation.

URL 1 Primary web link to the resource.

Cited Reference References the document cites.

Category Search category in which the resource was located.

Resource Type Type of Resource (i.e., publication or GIS dataset)

Distribution Copyright category of the resource.

Cost Purchase price of the resource.

Priority Priority given by the reviewer.

Acquired Date the resource was acquired.

File Name File name of the resource.

Location 

Description

Description of the resource location extracted from the 

document.

227 

Appendix M

Geographic Characterization Protocol

229 

IDENTIFY AND EXTRACT GEOGRAPHIC EXTENT

The purpose of this task is to compile a list of consistently gathered resource location 

descriptions to expedite boundary digitization of the resources. The documents will be 

quickly reviewed by the team for information regarding the study location and geographic 

extent, which will become the “resource boundary” or “footprint” of the study. 

The goal is to represent the entire extent of unique study sites individually, but NOT to 

digitize locations where multiple types of observations or measurements have been 

performed. If a figure has sites with unique names or are numbered, they are usually 

considered study sites (not observations), and thus would be digitized as separate polygons. 

Location information may come in the form of a text description relative to a coastal 

feature (e.g., 200 km off the banks of Cape Hatteras) or to an undersea feature (e.g., 

collected at the Blake Plateau); in a generalized figure; in latitude/longitude coordinates; in 

a lease block; or perhaps in some other form. Be aware that some studies have figures of 

other people’s research, or geographic features that have no relevance to the actual resource 

itself. If the resource appears to be a literature study, this should be noted.

If a figure is found that describes where the study was performed, it will be extracted from 

the document. This is described in detail in Section B. Please see Attachment 1 for 

examples of the different types of location information that may be found in the resource 

documents. If a resource is not in the study area, no figures should be extracted, and “XX”

should be entered in the tracking form seen below. 

The following are the steps involved in identifying and extracting geographic extents. 
230 

LOCATION DESCRIPTION

1) Open the resource folder for the resources, organized by file name. 

2) Review the PDF resource document for a text description of the study area. 

This is typically found in the “Materials and Methods” section of the paper as 

shown below. 

Find the figure that shows the entire extent of the area studied and/or the most 

expansive limits of the study. It may be necessary to record several figures to 

describe the geographic extent. 

3) Select the complete description from the PDF, and copy and paste it into the 

Form.

Example: 

“Sampling was conducted in deep coral bank study areas off North Carolina 

and South Carolina (Fig. 1) during annual (2000-2006) summer-fall cruises. 

A series of deep coral banks, approximately 75 km off the coast of Cape 

Lookout, North Carolina (approximately 360-450 m depth), are the 

northernmost banks along the southeastern United States slope.” 

 

4) If a resource is not in the study area, no figures should be extracted. 

5) Make a note of any additional tables or figures that might have geographic 

information, such as a table that has latitude/longitude coordinates. Any other 

observations, such as issues with the quality of the copy or if the resource is a 

literature review, should also be recorded. 
231 

FIGURE AND TABLE EXTRACTION

1) The Task Manager will determine which resources need to have figures or 

tables extracted. The Task Manager will sort the database by name and export 

an Excel® file (see Figure 4) for each team member to record their progress. 

Each day, the team member will check for an Excel® file with their initials and 

date.

2) To begin figure extraction, position the page to the full extent of the figure, 

including title. Click the “Alt” and “PrintScreen” buttons simultaneously. 

3) Open IrfanView and click the “Paste” button. 
232 

4) Use the left mouse button to click and drag a tight box around the figure, 

including the figure name and title. 

 
233 

5) In IrfanView, click “Edit” on the toolbar then “Crop Selection”, leaving only 

the cropped image. 

6) Hit the “S” key in IrfanView to save the file. Save in .jpg format with the 

following naming convention: 

e.g., 1_DM_F1 

Decoded: 1= “Ref_ID”; DM= demersal fish resource category, F1=Figure1

Use the figure number from the document. If there are multiple figures extracted 

from the same document, label accordingly (e.g., _F1, _F7, etc). Figures may 

not exist in all documents. In some documents, there may be tables containing a 

geographic reference (e.g., lat/longs, undersea features, etc) instead of figures. 

In these cases, the table(s) should be extracted using the same procedure.
234 

7) Use the default save settings below.

8) To clear the screen in IrfanView, hit the “D” key. 

9) Perform QA/QC of the location description and figure extraction by randomly 

selecting an appropriate sample size of the resources. Check the geographic 

description and choice of figure(s) from the original document against the 

extracted figure(s). Initial and date the resources that were checked noting any 

irregularities in the tracking form. Re-assign resource extraction as necessary.
235 

BOUNDARY DIGITIZATION

This task involves georeferencing figures (if available), and digitizing the resource boundary for 

display in ArcMap. Using the newly obtained location description and the detailed base map, the 

AMEC GIS team members will create a GIS shapefile, from a blank template, to spatially locate 

each resource. The resulting GIS shapefile will be one boundary layer, with features attributed 

with unique “ESID’s.” 

The goal of this task is to quickly approximate the entire extent of the resource. Only the 

extracted figures and the location description will be used; it should not be necessary to open the 

actual resource. 

Polygons will be created to represent the resource boundaries. The polygons will roughly 

represent the collective extent of the study. The polygons should not be rectangular or square, 

unless the extent of the study site appears that way. If the location description of the study area 

is only identified by points or lines, a polygon will be drawn around the extent of the point or 

line, roughly estimating a 1 mile buffer around the features. 

If the resource is offshore, or does not specify otherwise, it should be clipped to the coastline 

using the “Generalized Shoreline” shapefile for the landward extent. When possible and if 

relevant, the feature templates (e.g., New York Bight shapefile) should be used for features that 

do not have more available detailed information. In addition, if only references to states are 

given, the features should be drawn from the coast to the extent of the state (using the State 

Lateral Lines shapefile) to the EEZ for the seaward extent. See Attachment 2 for extracted 

figure examples. Figure 5 shows an example of several digitized resource boundaries (in green) 

superimposed on the base map. 

Although the method used to digitize the resource boundaries is a function of the available 

geographic information, the preferred methods are listed in order below. 

Georeference a figure created from the document (see Task 1B above), and digitize (trace) 

polygons from the figure. 

If relevant, draw a polygon from a lease block (see Attachment 1, Example 4). 

Draw a polygon from the narrative that references geographic features.

Create points from coordinates in the paper.

Other Methods: draw a polygon from the name of an undersea feature, etc. 

Specific steps required to digitize resource boundaries: 

The Technical Manager will assign which resources need to have features digitized on a daily 

basis and record a team member’s initials. The Task Manager will sort the database by name and 

export a customized Excel® file for each team member to record their progress. Each day the 

team member will check for a Microsoft® Excel® file with their name.
236 

Figure 1. Digitized resource boundaries. 

Open the base map, copy it to your local drive, and add an empty version of the shapefile to your 

map.

At the beginning of each day, each team member will start with an empty shapefile and populate 

it with the resources selected for work that day. At the end of each day, the team member will 

record the date in the Excel® file for the resources they actually completed. If the digitization 

was not completed, a date should not be entered. 

Review the location information for the resource in the Excel® file, and determine if there is a 

figure(s) available for the resource. If the Excel® file has a figure(s) identified, use the add data 

button to add it to the base map. If not, follow the order of preferred methods listed above. 

To begin georeferencing, zoom to the general location of the study in the map window. Ignore 

the “unknown spatial reference” and “build pyramids?” messages. 

Open the Georeferencing Toolbar and click “Fit to Display”. Make the figure semitransparent.

Going from unknown to known, match control points from the figure to coastal features on the 

base map. Add a minimum of 3 points, trying to achieve a triangular pattern. Do not create 

more than 5 control points or add points in a manner that causes the image to become skewed. If 

there is a problem georeferencing, make a note in the Excel® file and move on. 

Click “Rectify” on the Georeferencing Toolbar to finalize the location and create the world file. 

Save the rectified image.
237 

Click “Reset Transformation” on the Georeferencing Toolbar to start over. 

Start an editing session on the shapefile on your local machine. There should be one empty 1 

mile radius polygon feature in this layer. Copy this feature and move it over point and line 

features to estimate a 1 mile radius.

Review all of the location information for the resource in the Excel® file. One resource may 

have multiple study sites. The goal is to represent the entire extent of unique study sites 

individually, but not to digitize locations where multiple types of observations or measurements 

have been performed. Do not spend too long reviewing or digitizing any one resource. If there is 

a question, note it in the Excel® file, move to the next resource assigned, and leave it to the Task 

and Technical Managers to resolve. In addition, make sure to review any comments in the 

Excel® file that may give guidance on revising boundaries. 

Digitize each study site as a separate polygon. Figure 6 depicts an example of the original 

georeferenced image and the digitized study sites in the shapefile. Attachment 2 gives examples 

of different types of resource boundaries. 

Open the attribute table (see below) of the shapefile and populate the ESID (e.g., 3) and the 

Study_Site (e.g., Savannah Banks) fields. If the figure does not appear to have study site names, 

review the Geographic Description field in the customized “ExtentWorksheet” Excel® file (see 

below) for a name. If no study terms exist, use the generic term “Study Area” in the Study_Site 

field.
238 

Figure 2. Example of original figure and digitized study sites in the resource boundary layer. 
239 
240 

The new shapefile can be clipped using the “Generalized Shoreline” shapefile for the landward 

extent if it appears that the western extent of the resource is the coast. First, create a polygon and 

digitize the eastern boundary, then grossly estimate the coastal side and run the clip tool in 

ArcToolbox. 

If a figure is not available to digitize, follow the order of preferred methods listed above. Use the 

“Location Description” in the Excel® file to visually locate the boundary on the map. This can 

be done by identifying base map features for reference and using the measure tool for distance. 

Particularly useful base layers are the “Undersea Features, Undersea Feature Placenames”

layer and the “Protected Places” sublayer in the base map. The attribute table may be queried 

for specific features such as “Blake Plateau”. In addition, there may be available shapefiles 

developed in the future to facilitate creating boundaries for features that are studied frequently 

(e.g., New York Bight). 

The graticule layers (e.g., Degree_015, Degree_001) may also be used to narrow down 

latitude/longitude locations, if specified in the geographic description in the Excel® file.

If a figure is not available, and an XY coordinate is given, use the “Go To XY” tool to place a 

point on the map. Enter the coordinates and click the “AddLabeled Point” button. Remember 

that longitudes are negative in our hemisphere. 

Use the “Measure” tool to estimate a one (1) mile radius from the point. Then use the circle tool 

on the Advanced Editing Toolbar and draw a circle, roughly 1 mile radius, around the point. 

Remember that there is an empty feature in the layer that is an exact 1 mile radius polygon for 

your use. 

If a figure is not available, and a group of coordinates are given for the same study site (see 

Table I under Example 3 in Attachment 1), draw a tight box that encompasses all of them. 

Save the completed shapefile.

Record your initials and the date in the Excel® file when a resource boundary has been 

completed. Make notes in the Excel® file describing any issues associated with the resource.

Before turning in your resource boundaries to be loaded into SDE, use this checklist to check 

your work: 
241 

Look to see if there is a QA Remark on your worksheet to help resolve any problems. Also 

check the GIS Remark field, as we may have resolved an issue you identified earlier.

Check your ESID number on your Excel® spreadsheet against your created shapefile extents- Do 

they match? 

Import your shapefiles into a geodatabase or calculate the area of your shapefiles using XTools, 

delete any duplicates (e.g., look for any areas that are exactly the same). A 1 mile circle radius 

will have the same area, but should have different names or location. 

Check for spelling mistakes in the attribute table of your shapefile. 

Make any necessary notes in the Excel® file, or indicate if you need additional information. 

Do not add a date until the extent is digitized/completed (i.e., all issues resolved).

Make sure the shapefiles are clipped to the coastline (if relevant); check that nothing extends 

inland beyond the coast. 

Check anything that extends beyond the EEZ to be sure it is correct. 

The Task Manager will load the shapefiles into SDE on a daily basis.

Perform QA/QC of the boundary by randomly selecting appropriate sample size of the resources, 

looking at the boundary and attribute table and comparing these to the original resource and 

extracted figure. Initial and date the resources checked in the database. Any irregularities will be 

noted in the Excel® file and the resource will be re-assigned. 

Any questions regarding identifying or spatially locating studies not addressed above should be 

directed to the Task Manager or Technical Managers. 
242 

SUMMARY OF THE KEY POINTS

1. If the resource appears to be a literature study, this should be noted in the tracking form. 

2. If a resource is NOT in the study area, no figures should be extracted. 

3. If a study includes areas within the project boundary as well as other sites outside the 

project boundary, such as the Gulf of Mexico, it will be included, and will have a 

boundary created or digitized for all polygons. 

4. The preferred order to the digitization methods should be followed. The first preference is 

to use a figure.

5. The goal is to represent the entire extent of unique study sites individually, but NOT to 

digitize locations where multiple types of observations or measurements have been 

performed. If a figure has sites with unique names or are numbered, they are usually 

considered study sites (not observations), and thus would be digitized as separate 

polygons. 

6. The boundary should be clipped to the coast using the “Generalized Shoreline” shapefile. 

Templates for common areas, such as New York Bight, should be used instead of 

recreating these areas.

7. If only references to states are given, the features should be drawn from the coast to the 

extent of the state (use State Lateral Lines shapefile) to the EEZ for the seaward extent.

8. Use the checklist before turning in the digitized boundaries. 

9. When digitizing, it should not be necessary to open the actual resource. If there is a 

question, it should be noted in the Excel® sheet.

10. Only polygons will be created to represent the resource boundaries. Use the 1 mile 

boundary buffer where appropriate. 

11. No one other than the Technical or Task Managers may alter the base map .mxd, base 

map layers, or load data into SDE. 
243 

Attachment 1

Location Extraction Description Examples 

Example 1: 

Location Information: 

Deep-sea reef fishes, assemblage patterns:

Cape Lookout A - coral bank system approx. 75 km southeast of Cape Lookout, North Carolina, 

366-443 m dives 

Cape Lookout B--coral bank system approx. 11 km southwest of Cape Lookout A system, 366-

450 m dives 

Cape Fear-coral mounds approx. 140 km east of Cape Fear, North Carolina, and approx. 80 km 

southwest of southernmost Cape Lookout B coral mound, 368-443 m dives 

Republic wreck--wooden 1865 steamer and surrounding habitat, approx. 250 km east of GA-SC 

border, 489-492 depth 

Stetson-coral banks approx. 300 km east of GA-SC border, 592-721 m and 540-646 m dives 

Savannah-approx. 160 km east of Savannah, Georgia, 497-544 m dives 

Jacksonville-deep reef habitats along the slope off the FL-GA border, approx. 170 km northeast 

of Jacksonville, FL, 517-674 m dives 

North Cape Canaveral--reefs located approx. 95 km northeast of Cape Canaveral, FL, 709-770 m 

dives 

South Cape Canaveral--broad area of slopes approx. 80 km south of North Cape Canaveral sites, 

679-745 m dives 
244 
245 

Example 2: 

Location Info:

Sampling was conducted in deep coral bank study areas off North Carolina and South Carolina 

(Fig. 1) during annual (2000- 2006) summer- fall cruises. A series of deep coral banks, 

approximately 75 km off the coast of Cape Lookout, North Carolina (approximately 360-450 m 

depth), are the northernmost banks along the southeastern United States slope. 

Otter trawls (4.9 m head rope, 38.1 mm mesh) were towed around the Cape Lookout coral banks 

for 29-45 min at approximately 2 knot (3.7 km/hr) ground speed. From the 31 otter trawls towed 

(356- 910 m) in reef and non-reef areas, one E. lopheliae specimen was collected during a tow in 

September 2006. This trawl was towed for 3 km, mainly between two coral mounds in 430-438 

m depth. 
246 

Example 3: 

Deep-water chaunacid and lophiid anglerfishes (Pisces: Lophiiformes) off the south-eastern 

United States

J. H. CARUSO, S. W. ROSS, K. J. SULAK, AND G. R. SEDBERRY

Location Info:

Lophiiform data were collected during research cruises investigating deep-reef community 

structure along the outer continental shelves and upper slopes of the northeastern and northcentral Gulf of Mexico and the south-eastern U.S. (Fig. 1). Gulf of Mexico data resulted from a 

cruise using the RV Tommy Munro (6–19 August 2002) and one cruise using the RV Seward 

Johnson with the submersible Johnson-Sea-Link (JSL; Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution, 

Fort Pierce, FL, U.S.A.; HBOI) (30 July–4 August 2004). Data from the south-eastern U.S. 

resulted from eight JSL submersible dives (20–29 July 2000, 18–28 September 2001, 5–15 

August 2002, 3–13 and 17–26 August 2003, 9–21 June 2004, 21–31 August 2004 and 16 

October - 3 November 2005), ranging from just north of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, to east 

central Florida, and from one non-submersible cruise off North Carolina using the RV Cape 

Hatteras (22–30 August 2001). 

Had table with lat/longs
247 
248 

Example 4: 

Surficial Hydrocarbon Seep Infauna from the Blake Ridge (Atlantic Ocean, 2150 m) and the 

Gulf of Mexico (690-2240 m)

Christie A. Robinson, Joan M. Bernhard, Lisa A. Levin, Guillermo F. 

Mendoza & Jessica K. Blanks

Location Info:

Identified from five types of seep habitats and two adjacent non-seep habitats.

Collections were made with the deep submergence research vessel 'Alvin' from three areas of 

active seepage in the Gulf of Mexico (Alaminos Canyon [2220 m], Atwater Canyon [1930 m], 

and Green Canyon lease block 272 [700 m]) and on the Blake Ridge Diapir [2250 m], which is 

located off the southeastern coast of the United States.
249 

Example 5: 

CHEMICAL COMPOSITION AND ENERGY CONTENT OF DEEP-SEA DEMERSAL 

FISHES FROM TROPICAL AND TEMPERATE REGIONS OF THE WESTERN NORTH 

ATLANTIC

Roy E. Crabtree 

Extent Method: very gross polygon based on info available-Cape Hatteras to Cape Cod

Location Info:

Anglerfishes from deep (80-910 m) reef habitats along: the outer continental shelves and upper 

slopes of the northeastern and north-central Gulf of Mexico, and b.) the southeastern U.S. 

including Blake Plateau off South Carolina, and just north of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, to 

east-central Florida.
250 

Attachment 2

Extracted Figure Examples 

A

B
251 

C
252 

D
253 

E
254 

F
255 

G
256 

H
257 

I
258 

J
259 
The Department of the Interior Mission

As the Nation’s principal conservation agency, the Department of the Interior has 

responsibility for most of our nationally owned public lands and natural 

resources. This includes fostering the sound use of our land and water 

resources; protecting our fish, wildlife, and biological diversity; preserving the 

environmental and cultural values of our national parks and historical places; 

and providing for the enjoyment of life through outdoor recreation. The 

Department assesses our energy and mineral resources and works to ensure 

that their development is in the best interests of all our people by encouraging 

stewardship and citizen participation in their care. The Department also has a 

major responsibility for American Indian reservation communities and for people 

who live in island communities. 

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management Mission

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) works to manage the 

exploration and development of the nation's offshore resources in a way that 

appropriately balances economic development, energy independence, and 

environmental protection through oil and gas leases, renewable energy 

development and environmental reviews and studies.