This map represents geomorphic marine habitats of countries in the Southeastern Caribbean. It was created by the Allen Coral Atlas, a global-scale coral reef habitat mapping project that is using Planet Dove 3.7m resolution daily satellite imagery (in combination with wave models and ecological data) to create consistent global coral reef habitat maps with the purpose of supporting science and conservation. The Allen Coral Atlas used a classifciation system of twelve Global Geomorphic Zones that are known to be fairly consistent across different biogeographic regions, and often associated with regionally distinct ecological assemblages of benthic animals and plants. Moreover, geomorphic classes like these have been shown to be reliable predictors of biological habitat richness and diversity.

This survey aimed to establish the distribution and extent of Zostera noltii and Zostera angustifolia within areas of north Morecambe Bay where knowledge is currently lacking, primarily in the bay between Roa Island and Foulney Island and along the northern shore of the Foulney Island. There is the potential for Zostera beds in these areas not to be adequately protected in these areas due to gaps and low confidence in the available knowledge and this survey aims to ensure an accurate assessment of its distribution and condition.

The dataset is comprised of shallow-water (<30m) benthic habitat maps of the nearshore marine environment of two areas in Southwest Puerto Rico (PR), including the Guanica Bay/La Parguera region on the south coast and the Belvedere reserve on the west coast, which were mapped and characterized using visual interpretation of optical and acoustic remotely sensed imagery. The objective was to provide spatially-explicit information on the habitat types, biological cover and live coral cover of the region's coral reef ecosystem. These maps will be used to support marine resource management and conservation in the Commonwealth. In addition, the maps will enable change detection in an assessment of the effectiveness of restoration activities on the condition of adjacent coral reef ecosystems. This product provides a fine-scale assessment of the status, abundance, and distribution of marine habitats of Southwest Puerto Rico. Direct implications to management measures include evaluation of management efficacy, a spatial framework for improved monitoring sampling design, improved assessment of human-use impacts, and marine spatial planning to support alternative marine protected area boundary alternatives. In addition, the maps will enable change detection in an assessment of the effectiveness of restoration activities on the condition of adjacent coral reef ecosystems. This dataset provides an update to existing NOAA benthic habitat maps (created in 2001) of the waters off southwest Puerto Rico, extending from Guanica Bay in the east to Cabo Rojo in the west as part of a baseline characterization in support of watershed restoration. These fine-scale habitat maps, generated by interpretation of 2010 satellite imagery, provide an update to NOAA's previous digital maps of the U.S. Caribbean1 (GUI: PR004001, V1004001, VI004002) for these areas. Major improvements included: More detailed maps using a reduced minimum mapping unit from one acre to 1,000 square meters (~1/4 acre), Increased coverage of areas formerly classified as unknown, More detailed habitat classification, and Maps of marine areas adjacent to two natural reserves (Bosque Estatal de Guanica and Reserva Natural Finca Belvedere) in coordination with the NOAA Fisheries Caribbean Field Office. NOAA used a technique known as "heads-up digitizing" to produce the digital maps, whereby digital satellite images are visually interpreted, then habitats are delineated in a hierarchical classification scheme. Kendall, M.S., C.R. Kruer, K.R. Buja, J.D. Christensen, M. Finkbeiner, R.A. Warner and M.E. Monaco. 2001. Methods used to map the benthic habitats of Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. NOAA Technical Memorandum NOS NCCOS CCMA 152. Silver Spring, MD. 45 pp