Naar, D. F., Readlinger, C.

High-resolution multibeam bathymetry and backscatter investigation of the Edges, northwest of Steamboat Lumps, Gulf of Mexico

2011

Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council

38

Final Report, 10/1/2010 - 9/30/2011

"The intent of this study was to map and evaluate an area of essential fish habitat in the northeastern Gulf of Mexico northwest of the Steamboat Lumps MPA known as The Edges Marine Protected Area (MPA) and within fish habitat areas of the West Florida Shelf identified by a passive sonar array (coordinated by Dr. David Mann and his students in collaboration and consultation with Andrew David of the NOAA Panama City Lab). The new high resolution (70-100 kHz) KSI EM710 multibeam bathymetry and backscatter maps have been saved in numerous formats for future usage including Geographic Information Systems (GIS) applications. Due to equipment malfunction, we were unable to supplement these data with additional 200 kHz multibeam data near "The Edges? but were able to obtain such data closer to Panama City Beach as part of another project out to 100 m water depth. Furthermore, we had preexisting 300 kHz multibeam data from the Steamboat Lumps area which we have worked up into two separate publications (Allee et al., 2011 and Wall et al., 2011 Appendix A and B). A third and final manuscript is in preparation by Ross et al., which makes use of the high-resolution (70-100 kHz) KSI EM 710 data we collected from our transit from Key West to Pascagoula, Mississippi, identifying Deep Coral areas along the west Shelf of Florida. All these data (raw, processed, and final images) are provided in the separate GoFlex? USB disk drive for easy access and portability."

NOAA grant NA10NMF4410059

NA10NMF4410059