Data Management Plan

This feature class resides within the BIOLOGY Feature Data Set of the Georgia - 2015 ESI Geodatabase. It contains sensitive biological resource data for marine, estuarine, anadromous, and freshwater fish species in Georgia. Vector polygons in this data set represent fish distribution, concentration areas, and anadromous fish runs. Species specific abundance, seasonality, status, life history, and source information are stored in relational data tables (described below) designed to be used in conjunction with this spatial data layer. This data set comprises a portion of the ESI data for Georgia. ESI data characterize the marine and coastal environments and wildlife by their sensitivity to spilled oil. The ESI data include information for three main components: shoreline habitats, sensitive biological resources, and human-use resources.

This reflects the extent of all land and water features included in the overall Georgia ESI study region. The bounding box for this particular feature class may vary depending on occurrences identified and mapped.

Process Steps:

• 2015-06-01 00:00:00 - Nearshore marine and estuarine distributions of fishes were mapped primarily using data provided by the Georgia Department of Natural Resources (GADNR) and the Southeast Area Monitoring and Assessment Program (SEAMAP) of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC). These data sets were supplemented with information from the Estuarine Living Marine Resources program (ELMR; Nelson et al. 1991) as well as Jennings and Weyers (2002). Three fishery-independent data sets were provided by GADNR staff: 1) Ecological Monitoring Trawl Survey; 2) Marine Sportfish Population Health Survey; and 3) Red Drum and Coastal Sharks Longline Survey. Each dataset was summarized by GADNR staff for the sampling years 2004-2013 and by sampling region. Summary statistics included the frequency of each species caught during each month for each sampling region, as well as the abundance of each species by month and sampling region. Sampling regions were provided as a shapefile by GADNR staff. Species that were found to occur with a 10% frequency or higher in a given month for a given sampling region were marked as present for that month and sampling region. Additional life history seasonalities, such as larvae, eggs, and spawning months, were typically gathered from either USFWS Species Profiles or ELMR Program data (Nelson et al. 1991). For the nearshore area out to 10m depth, fish species distribution and seasonalities were supplemented with data from the SEAMAP program of the ASMFC. Fishery-independent sampling for the SEAMAP program is conducted in roughly three months out of the year, April, July, and October; however, sampling in practice strays into many of the preceding and following months. Data used for the ESI included the years 2004-2013, and the frequencies of species caught were used to determine monthly presence/absence. Presence within a month was determined by the same 10% frequency cut-off as was used with GADNR fishery independent sampling data. Sampling months were used as proxies for the season within which sampling occurred. Thus, if a species was found to be present in April, it was assumed to be present in March and May; likewise this was done for June and August (July), and September and November (October). In two of the larger river systems, the Savannah and Altamaha, data from Nelson et al. (1991) was used to map fish and invertebrate species and seasonalities. This data set was also used to add timing of spawning, eggs, and larvae for species in nearshore and inshore areas. In the Savannah River, data from Jennings and Weyers (2002) was used to determine distributions and seasonalities of species in higher reaches of the estuary, primarily areas that averaged less than 15 ppt salinity. Information on shark presence in Georgia estuaries and nearshore waters was compiled by GADNR from the Red Drum and Coastal Sharks Longline Survey and supplemented by expert knowledge. Information on life-history stages for sharks was provided by GADNR. Please note, that the presence of young-of-year sharks is indicated in the 'larvae' column in the ESI tables. In addition to the above datasets, anecdotal knowledge was used to define areas of high concentrations for Atlantic tripletail, cobia, and king mackerel.
• 2015-06-01 00:00:00 - Gray's Reef National Marine Sanctuary (GRNMS) is comprised generally of three distinct bottom habitats: sandy and/or soft bottom, tall rocky ledges, and rocky hard bottom with minimal vertical relief. The fish species of GRNMS were mapped to only two habitats, soft bottom and hard bottom, where hard bottom represented the combination of both rocky ledges and the rest of the hard bottom habitat. Fish species assemblages for each of these two habitat types were determined from reports, including Kendall et al. (2007) and Hare et al. (2015), as well as input from GRNMS staff and researchers. Two representative communities were selected using Kendall et al. (2007) data on abundance at various habitat types and input from GRNMS researchers. These species were marked as "Common" within the Sanctuary. There were also a number of other fish species that were mapped within GRNMS that did not fall into either of the representative species assemblages for soft and hard bottom habitats. These species were generally more pelagic in nature, e.g., cobia, king mackerel, and Tiger shark. No concentrations were included with these species. Seasonalities for GRNMS species were determined from either Hare et al. (2015), Kendall et al. (2007), SCDNR (2009), or expert knowledge of GA and SC DNR staff. Sturgeon distributions were mapped as polygons based on expert input. Areas that serve as primary habitat are mapped with a concentration of 'high' and mapping qualifier 'concentration area'. A concentration of 'present' was assigned to areas where sturgeon have been observed but where they are less commonly found, and a concentration of 'rare' was assigned to areas where sturgeon could be present but are not typically found. Other anadromous species were mapped to their respective habitats based on anecdotal information provided by GADNR, including: American eel, striped bass, blueback herring and shad. Unlike other portions of their range, striped bass in Georgia do no migrate into the ocean. A suite of recreationally targeted freshwater species (catfish, sunfish, and largemouth bass) were mapped to rivers within the area of interest based on anecdotal information by GADNR. Robust redhorse are mapped to rivers in which the species is known to occur to indicate the potential range of this species.
• 2015-06-01 00:00:00 - The above digital and/or hardcopy sources were compiled by the project biologist to create the FISH data layer. Depending on the type of source data, three general approaches are used for compiling the data layer: 1) information gathered during initial interviews and from hardcopy sources are compiled onto U.S. Geological Survey 1:24,000 topographic quadrangles and digitized; 2) hardcopy maps are digitized at their source scale; 3) digital data layers are evaluated and used "as is" or integrated with the hardcopy data sources. See the Lineage section for additional information on the type of source data for this data layer. The ESI, biology, and human-use data are compiled into the standard ESI digital data format. A second set of interviews with participating resource experts are conducted to review the compiled data. If necessary, edits to the FISH data layer are made based on the recommendations of the resource experts, and final hardcopy maps and digital data are created.

Data can be accessed by downloading the zipped ArcGIS geodatabase from the Download URL (see Distribution Information). Questions can be directed to the ESI Program Manager (Point Of Contact).