Normalization and Characterization of Multibeam Backscatter: Koitlah Point to Point of the Arches, Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary - Survey HMPR-115-2004-03

摘要

Having an increased understanding of the distribution and abundance of sea floor substrates can be useful for supporting management, research, monitoring, and education within the national marine sanctuaries (Barr 2003) and can assist with a myriad of concerns ranging from submarine cable engineering projects to cultural resource identification and protection. Seabed characterization was recently described as providing an important contribution to the sustainable management of groundfish fisheries and has been integral to the Pacific Coast groundfish management (PFMC 2004) for the past several years. Located off the Washington coast, the Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary (OCNMS) is a highly productive area of more than 2,400 nm in size and supports an extensive fishery, yet information describing the distribution of benthic habitats for many of the groundfish species along the Washington coast is often sparse, especially at useful spatial scales.