53958
An Aerial Survey Method for Estimation of Boater Use in Biscayne National Park During 2003-2004
Document
Published / External
24267
Aerial Survey of Vessel Usage and Marine Animal Occurrence between Ft. Pierce and Key West Florida, 1992-2004
Data Set
Completed
Over the past several decades, the combination of rapidly growing human populations, overfishing, and habitat alterations have placed significant stress on marine resources in the Florida Keys ecosystem, including Biscayne National Park. In response to concerns about resource sustainability, the Park is currently formulating management plans to balance Park visitor use and impacts on fishery and habitat resources. A key information need in this planning effort is the extent of boater use in Park waters. This study was undertaken to establish a costeffective method for estimating boater use of Biscayne National Park. The study plan was to conduct an aerial census of vessels in Park waters, conduct a concurrent census of boat trailers at major public boat ramps in and around the Park, and use the vessel and trailer data to develop a statistical model for predicting total boater use. The complexity of the study environment required development of a mobile GIS recording system to collect real-time in-flight data on vessel usage including position (latitude and longitude), time of sighting, vessel number and characterization, and disposition. Direct counts of vessels within Park waters were obtained using a small fixed-wing Cessna 182 aircraft. A census of boat trailers was carried out on the same days and time frames (1200-1500h) as the flight surveys at five public marinas. A total of 52 vessel-trailer surveys were conducted from March 2003 to February 2004. Sampling effort was allocated by season (spring, summer, fall, and winter) and day of the week category (midweek and weekend/holiday) to conduct the vessel-trailer surveys on days that reflected the full gradient of boater use of Park waters, from lowest-use to highest-use days. Our results showed that the number of trailers at public marinas was a generally good predictor of the number of boats in Park waters.
The to develop an aerial survey GIS database which will also be instrumental for ongoing and future studies evaluating biological and socioeconomic aspects of Park visitor use, including estimation of spatial fishing effort.
Rrecommendations for precise estimation of boater use in
Biscayne National Park are:
• Implement an automated system for obtaining daily trailer counts at the following 5 marinas:
Homestead/Bayfront Park, Black Point, Matheson Hammock, Dinner Key, and Crandon Park.
• Calibrate and verify automated trailer counts with occasional direct trailer counts by creel census personnel.
• Use the combined season boat-trailer regression model,
Boats= 44.279 + 0.9577*Trailers (r2=0.943) for estimation.
• Conduct aerial surveys to obtain vessel counts on special high-use days (e.g., Columbus Day Regatta weekend, lobster mini-season, etc.), since model predictions may be unreliable.
Theme
ISO 19115 Topic Category
biota
Theme
CoRIS Discovery Thesaurus
Numeric Data Sets > Biology
Theme
aerial survey
Theme
trailer count
Theme
vessel usage
Temporal
2003-2004
Spatial
CoRIS Place Thesaurus
OCEAN BASIN > Atlantic Ocean > North Atlantic Ocean > Florida
Spatial
Matheson Hammock,
Spatial
Biscayne National Park
Spatial
Black Point
Spatial
Crandon Park
Spatial
Dinner Key
Spatial
Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary
Spatial
Homestead/Bayfront Park
Spatial
Key Biscayne
National Centers for Environmental Information - Silver Spring, Maryland
Silver Spring
MD
Author
2005
Person
Ault, Jerald S
j.ault@miami.edu
(305) 421-4884
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Jerald-Ault
Researchgate Page Jerald Ault
Online Resource
Co-Author
2000
2015
Person
McClellan, David
Retired 2015
Data Steward
2000
2019
Person
Bohnsack, James A
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/James-Bohnsack
Researchgate Page Dr Jim Bohnsack
His researchgate page
Online Resource
Distributor
2005
Organization
National Centers for Environmental Information - Silver Spring, Maryland
NCEI-MD
NOAA/NESDIS E/OC SSMC3, 4th Floor, 1351 East-West Highway
Silver Spring
MD
20910-3282
(301) 713-3277
Metadata Contact
2005
2019
Person
Bohnsack, James A
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/James-Bohnsack
Researchgate Page Dr Jim Bohnsack
His researchgate page
Online Resource
Originator
2000
Organization
Southeast Fisheries Science Center
SEFSC
75 Virginia Beach Drive
Miami
FL
33149
USA
(305)361-5761
https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/about/southeast-fisheries-science-center
About SEFSC
Online Resource
8:00 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. EST
Point of Contact
2000
2019
Person
Bohnsack, James A
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/James-Bohnsack
Researchgate Page Dr Jim Bohnsack
His researchgate page
Online Resource
2005
https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/data/oceans/coris/data/NOAA/nmfs/sefsc/air_surveys/BISC_aerial_finalrpt_app.pdf
2005
Organization
National Centers for Environmental Information - Silver Spring, Maryland
BISC_aerial_finalrpt_app.pdf
2005-02-07T17:06:00
PDF
PDF - Adobe Portable Document Format
21M
Uncompressed
Chked Viruses Inapp Content
gov.noaa.nmfs.inport:53958
Lee Weinberger
2018-09-30T15:42:25
SysAdmin InPortAdmin
2023-10-17T16:12:18
2022-04-14
Southeast Fisheries Science Center
SEFSC
75 Virginia Beach Drive
Miami
FL
33149
USA
(305)361-5761
www.sefsc.noaa.gov
8:00 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. EST
1001
Public
No
2022-04-14
1 Year
2023-04-14