Data Sources

Literature: 624 peer-reviewed manuscripts, technical reports, stock assessments, book chapters, etc.

SEDAR: life history and fisheries information on many of the federally managed species in this project.

Marine Recreational Information Program (MRIP): information on effort and landings for the region and for individual states; crucial for identifying peaks in catch during the spawning seasons of focal species.

NOAA Commercial Fisheries Data: information on monthly effort and landings for the region and for individual states; crucial for identifying peaks in catch during the spawning seasons of focal species.

Texas Parks and Wildlife Department Coastal Creel Surveys: catch data for recreational fisheries in Texas.

Louisiana Dept. of Wildlife and Fisheries Creel Surveys: recent catch data for recreational fisheries in Louisiana.

SCRFA Global FSA Database: information on timing, locations, status, literature, and other important information on many species.

FishBase and GulfFINFO: biological and fisheries information that can be used for species profiles.

NOAA Saltonstall-Kennedy Project Results: prediction and verification of snapper-grouper FSA sites on the Offshore Banks of the Northwestern Gulf of Mexico (Award #NA14NMF4270039).

  • Interviews with commercial fishers identified potential FSA sites off Louisiana and Texas; verification needed
  • Sheepshead FSA sites documented and monitored at the Galveston and Port Aransas jetties in 2015 and 2016; fine-scale spatio-temporal spawning and fishing trends
  • FSAs documented within the existing and proposed expansion areas of the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary

Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission: historical data from Lew Bullock’s group helped document FSA sites in Florida Keys – particularly at Western Dry Rocks.

Gulf Artificial Reef Monitoring Assessment Program (GARMAP): data may be useful for identifying elevated densities associated with spawning seasons as partial evidence to further explore the use of artificial reefs as FSA sites

SEAMAP: seasonal longline and ichthyoplankton data, if collected during at the appropriate temporal and spatial scales, may help identify spikes in survey CPUE that are associated with spawning sites or periods.

Dr. Steve Murawski’s group at USF: showed us the the Camera-Based Assessment Survey System (C-BASS) and detailed its potential value for quantifying fish biomass and density over large areas, including FSAs.

Gulf of Mexico Ecosystem Modeling Workshop – Atlantis and OSMOSE models:

  • Information about FSAs identified as a current data gap.
  • Information on spatial distribution of FSAs would improve larval dispersal models
  • Inclusion of temporal (seasonal) aspect of FSAs and associated mortality would improve models

Bathymetry:

  • National Digital Elevation Program
  • U.S. Interagency Elevation Inventory
  • NOAA Bathymetry and Digital Elevation Models Viewer
  • NOAA Digital Coast Data Access Viewer
  • Open Topography, Texas Sea Grant
  • Texas Natural Resource Information System
  • Shuttle Radar Topography Mission
  • Dr. David Naar at USF maintains an extensive library of bathymetric data; provided digital copies of all of the data in ArcGIS format
  • Texas A&M University Department of Oceanography - GCOOS

NOAA SEFSC Commercial logbook data and NOAA VMS data:

  • Spatial and temporal “spikes” in catch and CPUE may help identify potential FSA sites and interactions between fisheries and FSAs of particular species.
  • Data not publicly available due to TOR of the logbook program and issues with confidentiality