Knowledgebase: Mapping the undersea landscape: Using seafloor maps to improve management of the Gulf of Maine

Case study 1: Stellwagen Bank
Minimizing ecological and financial costs of routing a fiber-optic cable

Between 1994 and 1996, the National Marine Sanctuary Program worked with the U.S. Geological Survey to map Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary and portions of western Massachusetts Bay. Scientists collected multibeam sonar data on bathymetry and substrate, which they ground-truthed with video, photography, and sediment samples. The maps cover 3,900 square kilometers and provide important information for management and research activities. When a private company needed to place a fiber-optic cable through the Sanctuary in 2000, they used the maps to route it across areas of soft sediment, avoiding hard gravel bottom where the cable could not be buried for its protection. Normally, extensive bottom sampling would have been required, increasing both project costs and ecological impacts on seafloor habitats.

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1. An increasing need for seafloor mapping
2. Only 15 percent of Gulf is adequately mapped
3. New technology allows unprecedented mapping
4. Introduction to applications
5. Case study 1: Routing a fiber-optic cable
6. Case study 2: Assessing effects of a fishery closure
7. Case study 3: Improving management of a lobster fishery
8. Case study 4: Identifying low-impact sites for aquaculture
9. Case study 5: Reducing impacts & improving efficiency of scallopers
10. Mapping the future: Gulf of Maine Mapping Initiative

Acknowledgements

Links: More information about seafloor mapping

Download a 4-page, printer-friendly PDF version of "Mapping the undersea landscape: Using seafloor maps to improve management of the Gulf of Maine."

To obtain printed copies of the publication, contact Susan Snow-Cotter.

This publication was produced by the Gulf of Maine Council's Science Translation Project.

Image credit: Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary