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NOAA Technical Memorandum NOS NCCOS CCMA 144 National Overview and Evolution of NOAA's Estuarine Living Marine Resources (ELMR) Program r Ma Silver Spring, iy November 2000 US Department of Commerce V NpAA National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration CVI inte^ifor Coastal Mortforing and Assessment -. BOi Center for Coastal Monitoring and Assessment National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science National Ocean Service National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration U.S. Department of Commerce N/SCI1,SSMC4 1305 East-West Highway MD Silver Spring, 20910 NOAA Technical Memorandum NOS NCCOS CCMA 144 NOAAs National Overview and Evolution of Estuarine Living Marine Resources (ELMR) Program David M. Nelson and Mark E. Monaco Biogeography Program* Center for Coastal Monitoring and Assessment National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science National Ocean Service National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration MD Silver Spring, 20910 Silver Spring, Maryland November 2000 United States Department of Commerce Norman Y. Mineta Secretary Contents Preface iv Introduction 1 Rationale 2 Base ELMR Data Collection 2 Selection ofestuaries 3 Selection ofspecies 3 Data sheet development 5 Life History Summaries and Tables 11 Life History Summaries 11 Life History Tables 11 Regional Results 15 Data summaries 15 Regional presence/absence of ELMR species 15 North Atlantic Region 15 Mid-Atlantic Region 21 Southeast Region 27 GulfofMexico Region 33 WestCoast Region 40 Data Content and Quality 46 Data 46 reliability Variability in space and time 46 Base ELMR Strengths and Weaknesses 46 Revising and Updating the ELMR Data Base 47 Data 47 preparation Data transformation 48 GulfofMexico: Texas case example 48 Update ofMassachusetts ELMR data 51 ELMR 53 Applications The Future 55 Acknowledgments 56 Literature Cited 57 List of Figures ELMR Figure 1. study regions. Figure2. Majorstepstocomplete theNational ELMRstudy, 1985-1994. Figure3. Exampleofaspecies/estuarydata sheet: weakfish inDelaware Bay. Figure4. Evolution oftheELMRprogram, 1985-1994. Figure5. Lifehistory tableheaders: Habitat Associations, Biological Attributes, and Reproduction.. Figure6. Locationof17NorthAtlantic ELMRestuariesand associated salinityzones. Figure7. MeannumberofELMRspecies in NorthAtlanticestuaries,bysalinityzone,month, and lifestage. Figure8. Locationof22Mid-AtlanticELMRestuariesand associated salinityzones. Figure9. MeannumberofELMRspecies in Mid-Atlanticestuaries,bysalinityzone,month,and lifestage. Figure 10. Locationof20Southeast ELMRestuariesand associated salinityzones. Figure 11. Mean numberofELMRspecies in NorthCarolinaestuaries,bysalinityzone, month,and lifestage. Figure 12. Meanannual maximum numberofELMRspeciesinNorthCarolina estuaries. Figure 13. Locationof31 GulfofMexicoELMRestuariesand associated salinityzones. Figure 14. MeannumberofELMRspecies inGulfofMexicoestuaries,bysalinityzone,month,and lifestage. Figure 15. Meanannual maximum numberofELMRspecies inGulfofMexicoestuaries. Figure 16. Locationof32WestCoastELMRestuariesand associated salinityzones. Figure 17. MeannumberofELMRspecies in WestCoastestuaries,bysalinityzone,month,and lifestage. Figure 18. Schematicmethodology forrevisingand updatingELMRdatabase. Figure 19. Seasonalestuarinesalinityzonesderived forGalveston Bay,Texas. Figure20. Relativeabundanceofseveralspecies in GalvestonBay,Texas,by seasonalsalinity zone. Figure21. ELMRrelativeabundanceand MDMFtrawl surveydata forwinterflounderin Massachusetts. List of Tables Table 1. ELMR regionaldatabasesand reports,completiondates, revisions/updates,and applications. ELMR Table2. estuaries (n=122),byregion. ELMR Table3. species (n=153),byregion. ELMR Table4. speciesguilds,byregion. Table5. Formatofspecieslife historysummaries. Table6. Exampleofa species/lifestageoccurrencetable: dungenesscrabin 32WestCoastestuaries. Table7. Exampleofaspecies/lifestageoccurrencetable: spotted seatroutin 31 GulfofMexicoestuaries. Table8. ELMRNorthAtlanticspecies (n=58). Table9. Occurrenceof58ELMRspeciesin 17North Atlanticestuaries. ELMR Table 10. -Mid-Atlanticspecies (n=61). Table 11. Occurrenceof61 ELMRspeciesin22Mid-Atlanticestuaries. ELMR Table 12. Southeastspecies (n=40). Table 13. Occurrenceof40 ELMRspeciesin20Southeastestuaries. Table 14. ELMRGulfofMexicospecies (n=44). Table 15. Occurrenceof44ELMRspecies in31 GulfofMexicoestuaries. Table 16. ELMRWestCoastspecies (n=47). Table 17. Occurrenceof47ELMRspecies in32WestCoastestuaries. in Preface NOAA's Estuarine LivingMarine Program We take great pride in providing you this comprehensive report: National Overview and Evolution of NOAA's Estuarine Living Marine Resources (ELMR) Program. This document complements many ofour ELMRprogram technical reportsand peer reviewed literature that has been published over the last 15 years. The impetus behind the development of this document was to provide our usercommunitywith a unified document that summarizes the fundamentalinformationcontainedintheELMRregionaldatabasesandtoprovidedocumen- tation of how the program and its associated methodologies have evolved. Although the ELMR program is housed within NOAA's National Ocean Service (NOS), the implementation and success of the nationwide program is due to the efforts of hundreds of scientists and managers who have assisted us in compiling the species distribution, relative abundance, and life history information. Their willingness to work with us by providing resources, compiling and providing data, and reviewing the digital data base and associated GIS map products have made the ELMR program a success. We owe a special thanks to our colleaguesintheNationalMarineFisheriesService,who,overtheyears,providedmanyofthe principal investigators who aided NOS ELMR scientists in developing the nationwide data- base. Our ELMR activities will continue to evolve within NOS's Biogeography Program, and we encourage you to follow the evolution of ELMR and its associated synthesis and research activities on the Web: http://biogeo.nos.noaa.gov. Sincerely, Mark E. Monaco, Ph.D. NOS Manager, Biogeography Program National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science Center for Coastal Monitoring and Assessment MD Silver Spring, 2000 April IV Introduction the North Atlantic (Jury et al. 1994), Mid-Atlantic (Stoneetal. 1994),Southeast(Nelsonetal. 1991),Gulf In 1985, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Ad- of Mexico (Nelson et al. 1992), and West Coast (Mo- ministration (NOAA) began a program to develop a naco et al. 1990). Regional life history summary consistent data base on the presence, distribution, reports have been published for the West Coast relative abundance, and life historycharacteristicsof (Emmettetal. 1991)andGulfofMexico (Pattilloetal. ecologically and economically important fishes and 1997). Life history tables and summaries for the invertebratesin thenation'sestuaries. The Estuarine Southeast, Mid-Atlantic, and North Atlantic regions Living Marine Resources (ELMR) program was are being developed. founded by the Biogeography Program*oftheof the former Strategic Environmental Assessments (SEA) Since completion of the national ELMR data base in DivisionoftheNationalOceanService(NOS). Through 1994, it has been updated, revised, improved, and the years, it has been conducted jointly by NOS, applied tospecificproblemsinnatural resourceman- NOAA's National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), agement (Table 1). To further refine the spatial reso- and otheragencies and institutions. The nationwide lution ofthe ELMR framework, a multivariate meth- "Base ELMR" data base was completed in 1994, and odology(Bulgeretal. 1993)wasappliedtoderivefive includes data for 153 species found in 122 estuaries bio-salinityzonesinfour"salinityseasons"forGulfof and coastal embayments in five regions. Regional Mexico and Southeast estuaries (Christensen et al. revisions werecompleted for theGulfofMexico and 1997). In addition, ELMR data for the adult and Southeastin 1998,and plansareunderwaytoupdate juvenilelifestagesofspecieshavebeenrevisedbased the Mid-Atlantic and North Atlantic regions in 2000- onrecentresourcesurveysusingtrawlandothergear. 2001. Thisreportprovidesa nationaloverviewofthe The revised ELMR data were then linked with the evolution, accomplishments, and regional results of seasonal estuarine bio-salinity zones for the Gulf of the ELMR program to date. MexicoandSoutheastregions,and incorporatedinto a Geographic Information System (GIS) to enable The data base is divided into five study regions (Fig- spatialorganizationofthedata. TheimprovedELMR ure1)andcontainsthemonthlyrelativeabundanceof data base hasbeen used for a variety ofapplications, each species' life stage by estuary for three salinity including HabitatSuitabilityModeling (HSM), Envi- zones(seawater,mixing,andtidalfresh),asidentified ronmentalSentitivityIndex (ESI) mapping (RPI 1996, in NOAA's National Estuarine Inventory (NED Data 1997), HazMat response (oil spill) planning, and the Atlas-Volume I and supplement (NOAA 1985a). Re- identificationofEssentialFishHabitat(EFH)(NOAA/ GMFMC gionaldatasummaryreportshavebeenpublished for 1998). •Now the Biogeography Program ofthe NOSCenterforCoastal Monitoring and Assessment West Coast 32 estuaries, 47 species North Atlantic 17estuaries, 58species Mid-Atlantic 22estuaries, 61 species Southeast 20estuaries, 40species Gulf of Mexico 31 estuaries, 44species ELMR Figure 1. study regions. Rationale Becausemanyspecies usebothestuarineand marine habitats during their various life stages, information Estuariesareamongthemostproductivenaturalsys- ontheirdistribution,abundance,temporalutilization tems and have been shown to be important nursery and life history characteristics are needed to under- areas that provide food, refuge from predation, and stand the coupling of estuarine, nearshore, and off- ELMR valuable habitat for many species (Tyler 1971, shore habitats. Consequently, the program MacDonald etal. 1984, Langton etal. 1989, Day et al. wasdeveloped to integrate fragmentsofinformation 1989, Ayvazian etal. 1992). Estuarine organisms that on these species and their associated habitats into a support importantcommercial and recreational fish- useful, comprehensive and consistent format. Until eries include bivalves, decapods, and a variety of recently,anationaldatabaseofthistypedidnotexist finfish. Inspiteofthewelldocumentedimportanceof (Figure 2). estuaries to fishes and invertebrates, few consistent andcomprehensivedatabasesexistthatallowexami- ResultsfromtheELMRprogramcontributetoNOAA's nationsoftherelationshipsbetweenestuarinespecies developmentofanationalestuarineassessmentcapa- found inoramonggroupsofestuaries. Furthermore, bility (NOAA 1985a), identify information gaps, and much ofthedistribution and abundance information assess the content and quality of existing estuarine ELMR for estuarine-dependent species (i.e., species that re- fisheriesdata. dataarebeingincorporatedinto quire estuaries during their life cycle) is for offshore the National Coastal Assessment and Data Synthesis lifestagesanddoesnotadequatelydescribeestuarine Framework(CA&DS),whichintegratesnationaldata distributions (NOAA 1990a, Darnell et al. 1983). setsfor138estuarieswithinaspatial frameworkwith analytical capabilities (Orlando 1999). In addition, Only a few sampling programs collect fishes and theELMRdataarebeingusedtodefineEssentialFish invertebrateswithidenticalmethodsacrossgroupsof Habitat under the revised Magnuson-Stevens Act estuaries within a region. Examples include inshore (NOAA 1996, NOAA/GMFMC 1998). trawl surveys conducted by the Massachusetts Divi- sionofMarineFisheries(Howeetal. 1991),theMaine Base ELMR Data Collection DepartmentofMarine Resources (MDMR 1993), and the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department An initial pilot study was completed in 1986 forU.S. (Hammerschmidt and McEachron 1986). Therefore, WestCoastestuaries to determine the feasibility and mostexistingestuarine fisheries data cannotbe com- scope of a national ELMR program, and to evaluate pared among estuaries because of the variable sam- the proposed ELMR methodology (Monaco 1986). It pling strategies. In addition, existing research pro- was determined that the amount of information that gramsdonotfocusonhowgroupsofestuariesmaybe could be compiled for each species and estuary on a important for regional fishery management, and few nationwide basis was limited, and that it would be compile information for species having little or no bothtimeandcost-prohibitivetomapeachspeciesby economic value. lifestageforeachestuary. Therefore,a spatialframe- Table 1. ELMR regional data bases and reports, completion dates, revisions/updates, and applications. work, using estuarine salinity zones based on the analytical capabilities (Orlando 1999). CA&DS is a National Estuarine Inventory (NEI), was adopted national and regional-scale data base and mapping (NOAA 1985). Figure 2 summarizes the major steps analysis system that provides a capability to access, taken to collect and organize this information. The synthesize, assess and apply nationwide data sets to initialstepsweretoselecttheestuariesandspeciesfor priority coastal issues, such as estuarine eutrophica- study. tion,habitatloss,coastalmonitoring,andsustainable coastalcommunities. Thespatialframeworkincludes: Selection ofestuaries. Estuaries in each region were selected from the National Estuarine Inventory (NED • Spatial geographies for 150 estuaries, major rivers, DataAtlas-Volume I (NOAA 1985a). Additionalestu- and coastal offshore areas. aries were added after discussions with regional re- searchers. The 122 selected estuaries are listed in • National data sets for coastal resources (including Table2 (theirlocations withineach regionareshown ELMR), environmental quality, and socio-economic in Figures 6, 8, 10, 13, and 16). activities. Data on the spatial and temporal distributions of • An interactiveweb-baseddataaccessand mapping specieswerecompiled forthetidalfresh(0.0-0.5parts system that allows users to view, conduct compara- perthousand(ppt)),mixing(0.5-25.0ppt),andseawa- tive analyses, and download information. ter (>25ppt) zonesdelineated foreachestuary inthe NEI. Manyoftheestuarieswithineachregioncontain Selection ofspecies. ELMR staff biologists used the all three salinity zones, but for the purposes of this following four criteria, together with data availabil- study, some zones are considered to be absent. For ity, to select species for inclusion in each regional example,thetidal PotomacRiverinMaryland hasno ELMR data base: seawater zone, and Morro Bay in California has no — tidal fresh zone. Salinity zones that are only season- • Commercialvalue determinedbyreviewofcatch aglelnyerparlelsyenotmiotrteadreferxotmretmhieslylasrmgael-slca(l<e1 aksmse2s)swmeernet cdiaetsa(aNndOAvAalu1e99s2taa,tiNstOicAs fAro1m99N2bM).FS and state agen- (NOAA 1985a). — • Recreational value determined by relative im- The NEI is now being superceded by NOAA's Na- portanceinrecreationalfisheriesthatmayormaynot tionalCoastalAssessmentandDataSynthesisFrame- becommerciallyexploited. Recreationalspecieswere work (CA&DS), which integrates national data sets determinedbyconsultingregionalexpertsandNMFS for 138 estuaries within a spatial framework with reports (Essig et al. 1991, VanVoorhees et al. 1992). Outputs National Compile Spatial Estuarine 122 Distribution Estuary Inventory Estuaries Information Data Temporal Distribution Prepare Peer Review: Microcomputer SpDeactieasS/hEesteutasry Data Verification Data Base Relative Abundance Develop Life History Data Summaries Reliability ELMR Figure 2. Major steps to complete the National study, 1985-1994. ELMR Table2. estuaries (n=122), by