Submerged Aquatic Vegetation Mapping Partnership
Project Description: APNEP is involved in a cooperative project to map submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV) using remotely sensed data and extensive ground-truth field surveys to: (1) develop a spatial (GIS) database of this vital habitat in the estuaries and coastal rivers of North Carolina and southeastern Virginia; (2) update existing spatial data for this region; (3) conduct change analyses of the distribution of SAV. The result will be used by state and federal resource management agencies to better protect, conserve and enhance this vital fisheries and wildlife habitat.
The project will use aerial photography (digital imagery) throughout the coastal areas of APNEP’s region to provide SAV distribution data. These data will build upon the SAV mapping efforts in Currituck Sound and Kitty Hawk Bay, North Carolina and Back Bay, Virginia in 2003 and will be comparable to data collected by Ferguson and Wood (1991) and Sincock et al. (1968). SAV distribution data may be used as APNEP indicators in our ecosystem assessment. The SAV Cooperative Habitat Mapping Project is the result of collaboration and cooperative funding and planning efforts between APNEP, US Fish and Wildlife Service, NC Department of Environment and Natural Resources (including the Division of Marine Fisheries, the Division of Water Quality, and the Division of Water Resources) and other state and federal resource management agencies. Data from the program also supports the North Carolina Coastal Habitat Protection Plan effort.
To learn more about APNEP’s SAV partnership, please visit:
www.apnep.org/pages/sav.html