Description: This dataset shows the locations of all the successful drop video camera deployments from the OSV Bold Cruise in southern Massachusetts Bay and northern Cape Cod Bay June 18-23, 2010. A collection of samples from a total of 200 stations was completed for either sediment, infauna, camera drops, or some combination of all three (depending on bottom hardness and priority of stations for infaunal analysis). The samples were collected by a combined Massachusetts Office of Coastal Zone Management (CZM), Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries (DMF), and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) scientific party. BACKGROUND INFORMATION The 2008 Massachusetts Oceans Act required the development of an integrated ocean management plan. One of the Commonwealth's priority tasks for implementing the ocean management plan is to categorize and map the various marine habitats in Commonwealth waters. CZM and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center are currently engaged in a Seafloor Mapping Cooperative to map seafloor habitat in Massachusetts coastal waters (http://www.mass.gov/czm/seafloor/index.htm). Surficial sediment maps were created using USGS usSEABED point data to produce very small scale sediment maps for the Massachusetts ocean management plan. These maps, which represent rough approximations of seabed character, are being revised (early 2010) to produce larger-scale maps informed by high resolution bathymetry, sidescan sonar, and geologic interpretation. These new maps reflect "potential habitat," areas of homogenous structural and lithologic seafloor character (physiographic features and their surficial geology). SURVEY JUSTIFICATION AND RATIONALE The validation of the sediment maps is a priority research objective outlined in the 2009 Massachusetts ocean management plan (i.e., "Priority 2" of the 2009 Massachusetts Ocean Management Plan Science Framework). In support of this effort, CZM used time aboard the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's OSV Bold to validate a selected area within the marine sediment maps produced by CZM in support of the Massachusetts ocean management planning effort. Ship time was used to gather detailed photographs of the seafloor as well as to collect benthic sediment and infaunal grabs. Sediment samples were processed, stored, and analyzed for grain size and infaunal analysis by Normandeau Associates/Northeast Environmental Lab and the USGS sediment lab. OBJECTIVES 1. Collect sediment samples in soft sediment areas to validate the sediment maps, using a Ted Young-modified Van Veen grab. 2. Collect infauna from a subset of the sediment samples to further characterize the sediment types. 3. Use underwater drop video camera to validate the sediment maps where sediment grabs are unsuccessful (e.g., in gravel, cobble, boulder, and/or ledge areas). ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT QUESTIONS ASKED BY SURVEY 1. Are the sediment types in each of the mapped physiographic zones in the CZM map correct? 2. Are there unique sediment grain sizes associated with each physiographic zone? 3. Are physiographic zones predictive of infaunal assemblages or individual infaunal species? SURVEY AND SAMPLING METHOD DESCRIPTIONS AND RATIONALES Equipment # 1: Ted Young-modified Van Veen grab (0.04 m²). Groundtruthing of the CZM physiographic zone maps was accomplished by taking a pre-determined number of grabs within each of five unique sediment classes. Infauna was collected from a subset of the sediment grab samples using a sieve with 0.5-mm mesh to further characterize the sediment types. Equipment # 2: UMASS-Dartmouth drop video camera. Groundtruthing of the CZM physiographic zone maps in hard bottom areas was accomplished by taking underwater images of the bottom.
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Copyright Text: These spatial data were created by the Massachusetts Office of Coastal Zone Management (CZM) for the Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs (EEA).
Description: This shapefile, in conjunction with layer file Fall2012_Sponges.lyr, shows this distribution of sponge (% cover) divided into quintiles in the Stratford Shoal region of Long Island Sound. Shapefile is based on analysis of 574 images (October 2012, USGS Seaboss: 517 images; December 2012, NURTEC ISIS: 57 images).
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Copyright Text: Lauren Stefaniak as part of the Long Island Sound Mapping and Research Collaborative (LISMaRC) contributing to the larger Long Island Sound mapping effort.