Delaware Bay, Delaware Benthic Habitats 2010 Geodatabase

The Coastal Program of Delaware's Division of Soil and Water conservation (DNREC), the University of Delaware, Partnership for the Delaware Estuary, and the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection have partnered and are carrying out a bottom and sub-bottom imaging project to identify and map the benthic habitat and sub-bottom sediments of Delaware Bay and River. This project was initiated to better understand the distribution of bottom sediment types, habitat biodiversity, and most importantly, human's impact on the bay bottom and its living resources. The project integrates the use of three types of acoustical systems: Roxann Seabed classification system, chirp sub-bottom profiling, and multi-beam bathymetric mapping. Verification of the acoustic data with bottom and sub-bottom sediments is performed through the collection of bra banc core samples and underwater video images.

Original contact information:

Contact Org: NOAA Office for Coastal Management

Phone: 843-740-1202

Email: coastal.info@noaa.gov

The Delaware Bay project has four principle goals. The first is to determine the location and extent of oyster reef habitats in upper Delaware Bay which will greatly improve the ability of Delaware and New Jersey to manage these commercial resources. The second goal is to evaluate short-nose, and atlantic sturgeon habitat. Sturgeon in the bay have shown an affinity for certain regions within the system. A better understanding of the conditions in these areas would improve the ability to assess the impact of dredging or other activities. A third goal was to identify potential borrow sites for beach re-nourishment materials. Finally, the high-resolution bathymetry collected in the bay will improve the understanding of sediment movement and other human impacts on the bay

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This file geodatabase contains three feature layers corresponding to the CMECS 2012 Geoform, Substrate, and Biotic components. These layers were converted from an earlier version classified according to the System for Classifying Habitats in Estuarine and Marine Environments (SCHEME) using the CMECS Crosswalk Tool. Each feature layer has its own metadata record describing the attributes, and data development methods associated with it.

NOAA provides no warranty, nor accepts any liability occurring from any incomplete, incorrect, or misleading data, or from any incorrect, incomplete, or misleading use of the data. It is the responsibility of the user to determine whether or not the data is suitable for the intended purpose.

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