These data represent the critical habitat for Gulf Sturgeon as designated by Federal Register Vol. 68, No. 53, Wednesday, March 19, 2003, Rules and Regulations.

Critical habitat in the Caribbean Sea area includes the waters adjacent to Sandy Point, St. Croix from the 100 fathom curve shoreward to the level of mean high tide.Critical habitat in the Pacific Ocean areas includes marine waters to a depth of 80 meters from the ocean surface and is delineated along the shoreline at the line of extreme low water, except in the case of estuaries and bays where COLREGS lines (defined at 33 CFR part 80) are used as the shoreward boundary. The seaward boundary of the nearshore Washington/Oregon area (from Cape Flattery south to Cape Blanco) is defined along the 2,000 meter isobath. The seaward boundary of the nearshore California area (from Point Arena south to Point Arguello) is defined along the 3,000 meter isobath.

These data represent the critical habitat for Gulf Sturgeon as designated by Federal Register Vol. 68, No. 53, Wednesday, March 19, 2003, Rules and Regulations.

These data represent the critical habitat for elkhorn coral (Acropora palmata) and staghorn coral (A. cervicornis) as designated by 73 FR 72210, November 26, 2008, Rules and Regulations.

These data represent the critical habitat for smalltooth sawfish (Pristis pectinatat) as designated by 74 FR 45353, September 2, 2009, Rules and Regulations.

Essential fish habitat (EFH) for Gulf of Mexico waters and/or substrate areas in the Gulf of Mexico, which may include estuaries and open water from the US/Mexico border to the boundary between the areas covered by the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council (GMFMC) and the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council (SAFMC) from estuarine waters out to depths of 100 fathoms. Essential fish habitat (EFH) consists of areas of higher species density, based on the NOAA Atlas (NOAA 1985) and the functional relationships analysis in the EIS (GMFMC 2004).

These data represent the critical habitat for hawksbill turtle as designated by Federal Register Vol. 63, No. 46701, September 2, 1998, Rules and Regulations. Redesignated and amended at 64 FR 14607, March 23, 1999.

This data set contains sensitive biological resource data for marine, estuarine, diadromous, freshwater, and federally and/or state endangered, threatened, or rare fish species in Northwest Peninsular Florida. Vector polygons in this data set represent fish distributions, spawning and nursery areas, concentration areas, migration areas, and harvest areas. Species-specific abundance, seasonality, status, life history, and source information are stored in associated data tables (described below) designed to be used in conjunction with this spatial data layer. This data set is a portion of the ESI data for Northwest Peninsular Florida. As a whole, the ESI data characterize the marine and coastal environments and wildlife by their sensitivity to spilled oil, and include information for three main components: shoreline habitats, sensitive biological resources, and human-use resources.

Nekton in the northern Gulf of Mexico often depend on marsh habitat and estuarine nursery areas during their life history, but patterns of habitat use and the underlying processes that drive these patterns are not fully understood. We examined small-scale (1-50 m) patterns of habitat use in Barataria Bay, Louisiana, between 2002 and 2006 by collecting nekton with a 1-m2 drop sampler. Habitat-specific densities were estimated for six habitat types at various distances from the shoreline into the marsh (Marsh1M = 1m and Marsh3M = 3 m into the marsh) and over shallow nonvegetated bottom, SNB (SNB1M = 1 m, SNB5M = 5 m, SNB20M = 20 m, and SNB50M = 50 m) seaward of the marsh. Habitat-specific growth rates also were estimated for brown shrimp Farfantepenaeus aztecus caged in SNB1M, SNB5M, and SNB20M. Nekton density patterns in Barataria Bay appeared to be clearly different from the Galveston Bay model, which predicts nekton distribution patterns relative to the marsh shoreline. Although densities in Barataria Bay were significantly higher in samples near the marsh shoreline (Marsh1M or SNB1M) for brown shrimp, blue crab, and white shrimp, highest mean densities were not always present in marsh edge vegetation. In addition, densities of brown shrimp and white shrimp in Barataria Bay declined much more steeply with distance into the marsh than in the model. Daily growth rates (1.0 - 1.2 mm TL day-1; 68 - 89 mg day-1) for brown shrimp were similar among SNB habitat types. Our results suggest that SNB in Barataria Bay may be relatively more important as habitat for fishery species than previously assumed.

This data set contains sensitive biological resource data for marine, estuarine, and select freshwater species Southwest Florida. Vector polygons in this data set represent distribution, concentration areas, spawning areas, and nursery areas for species of economic and ecological importance. 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 Southwest Florida. 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.