# A Geospatial Approach to Improving Fish Species Detection in Maumee Bay, Lake Erie
###### Abstract  
Maumee Bay of western Lake Erie is at high risk for invasion by aquatic invasive species due to large urban and suburban populations, commercial shipping traffic, recreational boating, and aquaculture ponds. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Early Detection and Monitoring (EDM) program has been monitoring for new invasive species since 2013 and is continually looking to adapt sampling methods to improve efficiency to increase the chance of detecting new aquatic invasive species at low abundances. From 2013-2016, the program used a random sampling design in Maumee Bay with three gear types: boat electrofishing, paired fyke nets, and bottom trawling. Capture data from the initial three years was used to spatially explore fish species richness with the hot spot analysis (Getis-Ord Gi+) in ArcGIS. In 2017, targeted sites in areas with high species richness (hot spots) were added to the randomly sampled sites to determine if the addition of targeted sampling would increase fish species detection rates and detection of rare species. Results suggest that this hybrid sampling design improved sampling efficiency as species not detected or were rare in previous survey years were captured and species were detected at a faster rate (i.e., in less sampling effort), particularly for shallow-water gear types. Through exploring past data and experimenting with targeted sampling, the EDM program will continue to refine and adapt sampling efforts to improve efficiency and provide valuable knowledge for the early detection of aquatic invasive species. The use of geospatial techniques such as hot spot analysis is one approach fisheries researchers and managers can use to incorporate targeted sampling in a non-subjective way to improve species detection. a 2022 202  
new invaders such as Bighead Carp _Hypophthalmichthys nobilis_ and Silver Carp _H. moltirix_ remain high [7; 8]. [PERSON] et al. [9], and [PERSON] et al. [5] examined invasive species early detection strategies, and the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) adopted those efforts into a strategic framework [10] to implement an Aquatic Invasive Species Early Detection and Monitoring (AIS EDM) program in the Great Lakes with the goal of detecting newly introduced aquatic invasive species at low abundances [11]. Locations across Lake Erie and the entire Great Lakes have been evaluated for their risk of invasion by new invasive species [12; 13]. Maumee Bay was identified as the highest risk location in Lake Erie due to high human population, commercial shipping traffic, recreational boating, and aquaculture activity [12]. Aquatic invasive species early detection sampling was initiated in Maumee Bay in 2013 when the USFWS implemented a comprehensive Great Lakes EDM program to improve the early detection of aquatic invasive species by attempting to detect the entire fish community - including rare or unique species [9]. Species accumulation theory [14] was used as a metric to evaluate the effort of the EDM program, with the goal to detect 95% of all known and available fish species to obtain high probability of early detection [5]. The USFWS was able to achieve an estimated 94% detection rate (as determined by species accumulation analysis) after four years of random sampling in Maumee Bay [15]. Even so, efforts to move toward targeted sampling would increase the likelihood of detecting a new species and may increase the rate and likelihood that a 95% detection rate could be achieved. Following an adaptive management process (implement, evaluate, refine), the sampling strategy was evaluated to identify areas where gear sampling efficiencies and species detection rates could be improved. The adaptive approach spatially examined past sampling data to identify and target species-rich areas. Geospatial techniques such as the hot spot analysis (Getis-Ord Gi*) may be used to identify spatial clusters with similar values [16].