Model the spatial and temporal distribution, abundance, and life history parameters of selected species. Define the association between species and habitats using Habitat Suitability Modeling. Identify optimum beach sand renourishment strategies which minimize environmental impacts. Further refine the characterization of Essential Fish Habitat for fishery species. DCPS and NOAA are integrating biological, physical, economic, and logistical criteria into a model to identify optimum sand borrow sites and predict potential biological impacts of beach sand renourishment activities.
Species being modeled include summer flounder, Atlantic surf clam, and black sea bass.
Resulting model results are mapped using ArcView GIS to visualize the spatial distribution of sand and fishery resources, and further refine site selection. HSM is a custom extension to ArcView 3.2 developed by NOAA and ESRI to assist marine biologists in modeling habitat and species distributions based on species habitat affinities and environmental data. It requires Spatial Analyst and runs on a Windows NT platform. HSM can be used to predict how species distributions will change under different environmental conditions. The habitat suitability modeling concept and process is based on earlier work done by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, NOAA, and others.