GIS Project to Categorize and Map Smalltooth Sawfish (Pristis pectinata) Shoreline and Nearshore Habitat Features in Southwest Florida
Abstract
This project was conducted in cooperation with NOAA Fisheries to support the management
of smalltooth sawfish (Pristis pectinata) in Charlotte Harbor, Florida. Smalltooth
sawfish have experienced a serious decline in their range due to commercial and recreational
fishing, entanglement, illegal trade, and coastal development. In the United States,
they once ranged from Texas to North Carolina, but are now only found in parts of
southern Florida. NOAA Fisheries manages smalltooth sawfish under the purview of the
Endangered Species Act and has designated Charlotte Harbor and the Ten Thousand Islands/Everglades
as critical habitat units for the U.S. distinct population of this species. These
areas were chosen as they have an abundance of mangroves in shallow, euryhaline water
which is prime nursery habitat for sawfish. This project focuses on the Charlotte
Harbor unit of critical habitat and utilizes ArcGIS to categorize the shoreline with
emphasis on classifying and analyzing mangroves to identify priority sawfish habitat.
A supervised classification using the maximum likelihood classification method is
used to categorize the shoreline into three classes: mangrove, other vegetation, and
non-vegetation. Classified mangroves are then analyzed to identify contiguous mangrove
patches, mangrove distance to shoreline, and mangrove neighborhood density. The products
from this project will be combined with other datasets to develop a sawfish distribution
model. Such a model could be useful in predicting sawfish abundance across seascapes
to promote better management of this endangered species.
Type
Master's projectDepartment
Nicholas School of the EnvironmentPermalink
https://hdl.handle.net/10161/24874Citation
Dar, Rabiya (2022). GIS Project to Categorize and Map Smalltooth Sawfish (Pristis pectinata) Shoreline
and Nearshore Habitat Features in Southwest Florida. Master's project, Duke University. Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/10161/24874.Collections
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