Using seafloor maps to improve management of the Gulf of Maine
As of 2002, however, only 15 percent of the Gulf of Maine had been mapped in sufficient detail. Because resource managers, scientists, and businesses are increasingly using seafloor maps to improve decision-making (see case studies), an international partnership of government and non-government organizations called the Gulf of Maine Mapping Initiative has been formed to map the remaining 85 percent and to provide the maps on the Internet.
1. An increasing need for seafloor mapping
2.
Only 15 percent of Gulf is adequately mapped
3.
New technology allows unprecedented mapping
4.
Introduction to applications
5. Case study 1: Routing a fiber-optic cable
6. Case study 2: Assessing effects of a fishery closure
7. Case study 3: Improving management of a lobster fishery
8. Case study 4: Identifying low-impact sites for aquaculture
9. Case study 5: Reducing impacts & improving
efficiency of scallopers
10.
Mapping the future: Gulf of Maine Mapping Initiative
Links: More information about seafloor mapping
Download a 4-page, printer-friendly PDF version of "Mapping the undersea landscape: Using seafloor maps to improve management of the Gulf of Maine."
To obtain printed copies of the publication, contact Susan Snow-Cotter.
This publication was produced by the Gulf of Maine Council's Science Translation Project.
Image credit: Base map courtesy United States Geological Survey - Woods Hole Field Center