Mapping tools from:
Mapping Tools to Support Protected Area Management
Mapping tools from:
Flower Garden Banks NMSGeo-Platform
Stellwagen Bank NMS
Flower Gardens Map Tool
• Bathymetry
• Biological and habitat information
• Management zones
• Oil and gas activities
• Oceanographic data
• Remotely-operated vehicle tracks
• Underwater photographs
Underwater Image Functions
www.geoplatform.gov
• Powered by Environmental Response Management Application® (ERMA)
• Web-based Geographic Information System (GIS) tool for emergency responders and resource managers emergency responders and resource managers
• Response operations for Deepwater Horizon spill
• Updated daily
• Partnership - NOAA and the University of New Hampshire's Coastal Response Research Center
• Designed by NOAA's Office of Response and Restoration, UNH, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
First Level Data Layers
Weather Functions
Spill Support Functions
Spatial Resolution
Here we are
StellwagenBank
Cape Ann
Atlantic
Stellwagen Bank
Bank NMS
2,188 square km
Boston
Cape Cod
AtlanticOcean
MASSACHUSETTS
Ship Strikes
Distribution of Ship Strikes for SBNMS Ship Strikes for Baleen Whales
Locations inferred from Jensen & Silber 2003
SBNMS
Why are Right Whales So Vulnerable to Ship Strikes?
• Slow• Coastal distribution• High % of time in upper 20 m
Red = highest density Blue = lowest densityBaleen Whales Distribution: 1979 - 2004
Shipping Lane/Traffic Separation Scheme
Whale tagging team and equipment
DTAG on humpback whale
Side rolls
Fluking
DivingGliding
Surface Swimming
Side rolls on bottom
Whale Tagging & Tracking
Gliding
Surface Swimming
Side rolls
Fluking
Diving
Rising
GOALShift the TSS to an area where whale density is
historically lower.
Red = highest density Blue = lowest densityBaleen Whales Distribution: 1979 - 2004
Sediment ClassificationOld TSS New TSS
36%48%16%
MudSandGravel
MudSandGravel
35%16%49%
Less Feeding Area traversed by New TSS
Shipping lanes moved in 2007 to reduce the risk of ship strike to whalesstrike to whales
81% all whales
58% right whales
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http://sanctuaries.noaa.gov