Pacific Coast Fisheries GIS Resource Database
Pacific Coast fisheries information is currently available only from wildlife agencies in disparate databases. To maximize the value of these data, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation, and Enforcement and U. S. Geological Survey have combined data from several of these sources into a single, comprehensive database. This gives resource managers a tool to easily extract species or catch information from these data according to spatial and temporal queries. To request this database, please contact Dr. Susan De La Cruz (sdelacruz@usgs.gov) and Dr. Josh Adams (josh_adams@usgs.gov)
To request this database, please contact Dr. Susan De La Cruz (sdelacruz@usgs.gov) and Dr. Josh Adams (josh_adams@usgs.gov)
Pacific Coast fisheries information is currently available only from wildlife agencies in disparate databases. To maximize the value of these data, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation, and Enforcement and U. S. Geological Survey have combined data from several of these sources into a single, comprehensive database. This gives resource managers a tool to easily extract species or catch information from these data according to spatial and temporal queries.
Marine fisheries information has been included that originates from within the Pacific Exclusive Economic Zone boundary (200 nautical miles from shore). These data are associated with the California reporting block system, the Oregon and Washington Trawl Logbook blocks, Washington Marine Fish-Shellfish Management and Catch reporting areas, or more specific reef and platform locations. All fisheries-related data has been stored as tables inside a geodatabase and tied to spatial locations via relationship classes. These fisheries data tables are:
- California Commercial Fisheries data (summarized, 1972 – 2009)
- California Sport (CPFV) Fishing data (summarized, 1980 – 2009)
- California Historical Sport (CPFV) Fishing data (summarized, 1936 – 2009)
- California CRFS and MRFSS On-board Survey data (summarized, 1999 – 2009)
- Southern California Reefs Fish Survey data (1996 – 2009)
- Southern California Platforms Fish Survey data (1996 – 2009)
- Oregon and Washington Commercial Fisheries data (summarized, 1987 – 2009)*
- Oregon Commercial Shrimp, Nearshore, and Sardine Fishing data (summarized 1996 – 2009)*
- Oregon MRFSS On-board Survey data (summarized, 1999 – 2009)
- Washington Pink Shrimp Fishing data (summarized, 1970 – 2009)
*Summary tables by month and by year included.
BACKGROUND TO THE FISHERIES DATABASE
The BOEMRE Pacific Outer Continental Shelf Region has the responsibility for managing federal offshore energy and mineral resources along the Pacific coast. BOEMRE Environmental Programs include the Environmental Analysis Program that conducts environmental reviews and analysis of proposed projects to ensure compliance with environmental conditions, and the Environmental Studies Program that supports research to provide greater understanding and protection of marine and coastal environments. However, survey and resource data developed by or used by these programs were previously only available within disparate databases. To maximize the value of these data, the BOEMRE Pacific Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) Region office identified the need to integrate all existing database layers (metadata and spatial features) for fish, fisheries, and human use into one comprehensive GIS-based system.
Beginning in 2008, BOEMRE worked with the U. S. Geological Survey’s Western Ecological Research Center to create a comprehensive database that allows resource management personnel unrestricted capacity to conveniently extract any combination of environmental, species, fishery, or human use data according to specified temporal and spatial queries. This system was modeled on an earlier summary of seabirds and marine mammals off Southern California (Takekawa et al. 2004, Mason et al. 2007) presented in 2009 in a online database (http://www.werc.usgs.gov/geospatial/seabird).
From 2008 to 2010, fisheries and coastal spatial data from various wildlife agencies in California, Oregon, and Washington were collected by the USGS and compiled into a single geographic information system. Custom query tools were developed for use in an ArcMap document to allow users to make spatial selections and view associated data. Management scenario tutorials for extracting data with the custom tools were produced along with procedures for implementing future updates to database tables. In addition to ten commercial, sport, survey, and fish-count databases, the seabird and marine mammal distribution data from Southern California were also included. The final, fully-integrated GIS database provides a detailed summary of the most up-to-date resource use (fisheries and human use) and allows coastal and wildlife resource managers the capacity to analyze potential impacts from planned and future projects off the Pacific Coast.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This project was supported by the U. S. Geological Survey for the BOEMRE Environmental Studies Program with assistance through the USGS liaison (Colleen Charles). Data for this project was generously provided by the California Department of Fish and Game Marine Fisheries Statistical Unit (Joann Eres, Jana Robertson, and Wendy Dunlap), the California Department of Fish and Game Marine Region GIS Unit (Laura McGarvie and Gina Schmidt), the California Department of Fish and Game Office of Spill Prevention and Response (Isaac Oshima), the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife Marine Resource Program (Mark Freeman and Mark Karnowski), the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (Michele Culver, Lorna Wargo, Mel Stanley, and Dale Gombert), the Pacific Fisheries Information Network (Brad Stenberg and Jean Olson), and the Recreational Fisheries Information Network (Wade Van Buskirk). Advice and guidance on the Visual Basic for Applications programming and the fisheries ArcMap document were provided by American River College professors Hugh Howard and Nate Jennings. Additional code sources for this project are from ESRI (Michele Lundeen’s “Export to Excel" ArcScript and ESRI Knowledge Base articles) and participants on the ESRI user forums (Jason Sardano and G. Venkata Vijay Kumar). We appreciate the helpful review comments of Josh Adams, Pete Coates, Brian Halstead, and Barbara Martin.
DISCLAIMERS
The data sets contained on this disk may be cited and analyzed for summary reports but not used for scientific publication without permission from the authors. Please cite U. S. Geological Survey if these data are used or included in developed products.
The fisheries, seabird, and marine mammal data may only be used within the context of the included ArcMap document. For specific use constraints of each dataset, please see the metadata. The original data providers must be contacted for future updates.
This publication was prepared by an agency of the U.S. Government. Neither the U.S. Government nor any agency thereof, nor any of their employees, makes any warranty, expressed or implied, or assumes any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information, apparatus, product, or process disclosed in this report, or represents that its use would not infringe on privately owned rights. Reference therein to any specific commercial product, process, or service, by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise does not necessarily constitute or imply its endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by the U.S. Government or any agency thereof.
Although all data and software published have been used by the U.S. Geological Survey, no warranty, expressed or implied, is made by the U.S. Geological Survey as to the accuracy of these data and related materials and (or) the functioning of the software.
The act of distribution shall not constitute any such warranty, and no responsibility is assumed by the U.S. Geological Survey in the use of these data, software, or related materials. Any use of trade, product, or firm names is for descriptive purposes only and does not imply endorsement by the U.S. Government.
Pacific Coast fisheries information is currently available only from wildlife agencies in disparate databases. To maximize the value of these data, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation, and Enforcement and U. S. Geological Survey have combined data from several of these sources into a single, comprehensive database. This gives resource managers a tool to easily extract species or catch information from these data according to spatial and temporal queries. To request this database, please contact Dr. Susan De La Cruz (sdelacruz@usgs.gov) and Dr. Josh Adams (josh_adams@usgs.gov)
To request this database, please contact Dr. Susan De La Cruz (sdelacruz@usgs.gov) and Dr. Josh Adams (josh_adams@usgs.gov)
Pacific Coast fisheries information is currently available only from wildlife agencies in disparate databases. To maximize the value of these data, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation, and Enforcement and U. S. Geological Survey have combined data from several of these sources into a single, comprehensive database. This gives resource managers a tool to easily extract species or catch information from these data according to spatial and temporal queries.
Marine fisheries information has been included that originates from within the Pacific Exclusive Economic Zone boundary (200 nautical miles from shore). These data are associated with the California reporting block system, the Oregon and Washington Trawl Logbook blocks, Washington Marine Fish-Shellfish Management and Catch reporting areas, or more specific reef and platform locations. All fisheries-related data has been stored as tables inside a geodatabase and tied to spatial locations via relationship classes. These fisheries data tables are:
- California Commercial Fisheries data (summarized, 1972 – 2009)
- California Sport (CPFV) Fishing data (summarized, 1980 – 2009)
- California Historical Sport (CPFV) Fishing data (summarized, 1936 – 2009)
- California CRFS and MRFSS On-board Survey data (summarized, 1999 – 2009)
- Southern California Reefs Fish Survey data (1996 – 2009)
- Southern California Platforms Fish Survey data (1996 – 2009)
- Oregon and Washington Commercial Fisheries data (summarized, 1987 – 2009)*
- Oregon Commercial Shrimp, Nearshore, and Sardine Fishing data (summarized 1996 – 2009)*
- Oregon MRFSS On-board Survey data (summarized, 1999 – 2009)
- Washington Pink Shrimp Fishing data (summarized, 1970 – 2009)
*Summary tables by month and by year included.
BACKGROUND TO THE FISHERIES DATABASE
The BOEMRE Pacific Outer Continental Shelf Region has the responsibility for managing federal offshore energy and mineral resources along the Pacific coast. BOEMRE Environmental Programs include the Environmental Analysis Program that conducts environmental reviews and analysis of proposed projects to ensure compliance with environmental conditions, and the Environmental Studies Program that supports research to provide greater understanding and protection of marine and coastal environments. However, survey and resource data developed by or used by these programs were previously only available within disparate databases. To maximize the value of these data, the BOEMRE Pacific Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) Region office identified the need to integrate all existing database layers (metadata and spatial features) for fish, fisheries, and human use into one comprehensive GIS-based system.
Beginning in 2008, BOEMRE worked with the U. S. Geological Survey’s Western Ecological Research Center to create a comprehensive database that allows resource management personnel unrestricted capacity to conveniently extract any combination of environmental, species, fishery, or human use data according to specified temporal and spatial queries. This system was modeled on an earlier summary of seabirds and marine mammals off Southern California (Takekawa et al. 2004, Mason et al. 2007) presented in 2009 in a online database (http://www.werc.usgs.gov/geospatial/seabird).
From 2008 to 2010, fisheries and coastal spatial data from various wildlife agencies in California, Oregon, and Washington were collected by the USGS and compiled into a single geographic information system. Custom query tools were developed for use in an ArcMap document to allow users to make spatial selections and view associated data. Management scenario tutorials for extracting data with the custom tools were produced along with procedures for implementing future updates to database tables. In addition to ten commercial, sport, survey, and fish-count databases, the seabird and marine mammal distribution data from Southern California were also included. The final, fully-integrated GIS database provides a detailed summary of the most up-to-date resource use (fisheries and human use) and allows coastal and wildlife resource managers the capacity to analyze potential impacts from planned and future projects off the Pacific Coast.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This project was supported by the U. S. Geological Survey for the BOEMRE Environmental Studies Program with assistance through the USGS liaison (Colleen Charles). Data for this project was generously provided by the California Department of Fish and Game Marine Fisheries Statistical Unit (Joann Eres, Jana Robertson, and Wendy Dunlap), the California Department of Fish and Game Marine Region GIS Unit (Laura McGarvie and Gina Schmidt), the California Department of Fish and Game Office of Spill Prevention and Response (Isaac Oshima), the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife Marine Resource Program (Mark Freeman and Mark Karnowski), the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (Michele Culver, Lorna Wargo, Mel Stanley, and Dale Gombert), the Pacific Fisheries Information Network (Brad Stenberg and Jean Olson), and the Recreational Fisheries Information Network (Wade Van Buskirk). Advice and guidance on the Visual Basic for Applications programming and the fisheries ArcMap document were provided by American River College professors Hugh Howard and Nate Jennings. Additional code sources for this project are from ESRI (Michele Lundeen’s “Export to Excel" ArcScript and ESRI Knowledge Base articles) and participants on the ESRI user forums (Jason Sardano and G. Venkata Vijay Kumar). We appreciate the helpful review comments of Josh Adams, Pete Coates, Brian Halstead, and Barbara Martin.
DISCLAIMERS
The data sets contained on this disk may be cited and analyzed for summary reports but not used for scientific publication without permission from the authors. Please cite U. S. Geological Survey if these data are used or included in developed products.
The fisheries, seabird, and marine mammal data may only be used within the context of the included ArcMap document. For specific use constraints of each dataset, please see the metadata. The original data providers must be contacted for future updates.
This publication was prepared by an agency of the U.S. Government. Neither the U.S. Government nor any agency thereof, nor any of their employees, makes any warranty, expressed or implied, or assumes any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information, apparatus, product, or process disclosed in this report, or represents that its use would not infringe on privately owned rights. Reference therein to any specific commercial product, process, or service, by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise does not necessarily constitute or imply its endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by the U.S. Government or any agency thereof.
Although all data and software published have been used by the U.S. Geological Survey, no warranty, expressed or implied, is made by the U.S. Geological Survey as to the accuracy of these data and related materials and (or) the functioning of the software.
The act of distribution shall not constitute any such warranty, and no responsibility is assumed by the U.S. Geological Survey in the use of these data, software, or related materials. Any use of trade, product, or firm names is for descriptive purposes only and does not imply endorsement by the U.S. Government.