News & Announcements
Download media package for this story including text in Word format plus high-resolution image (82K self-extracting Zip file)
May 16, 2006
Project Coordinators:
Alex Abbott (alexoabbott@hotmail.com)
Jed Wright (jed_wright@fws.gov;
207-781-8364 x12)
Maine Atlantic Salmon Habitat Analysis: Third Edition Now Available
The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service’s Gulf of Maine Coastal Program and the Maine Atlantic Salmon Commission are pleased to announce the publication of the third edition of the Maine Atlantic Salmon Habitat Atlas which provides detailed maps of Atlantic salmon spawning and rearing habitat along 16 rivers in Maine. This replaces the second edition that was completed last fall. Habitat information is available for all surveyed portions of the following watersheds: Aroostook, Dennys, Ducktrap, East Machias, Kennebec, Machias, Narraguagus, Passagassawakeag, Penobscot, Pleasant, Presumpscot, Saco, St. George, Sheepscot, Tunk and Union River.
According to Joan Trial from the Maine Atlantic Salmon Commission, “More than 30 fisheries biologists and GIS specialists have been involved in completing this important undertaking over the past decade.” Habitat data was collected between 1983 and 2005 by more than 30 field biologists from the Maine Atlantic Salmon Commission and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Maine Fisheries Program Complex. Maine Office of Geographic Information Systems supplied basemap information, which was modified as needed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Gulf of Maine Coastal Program. Staff at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Gulf of Maine Coastal Program and the Maine Atlantic Salmon Commission developed the habitat data for the completed Atlas. “Thanks goes to many individuals and organizations that provided important support, and to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and Maine Atlantic Salmon Commission for providing funds needed to complete this most recent edition of the Atlas,” said Jed Wright from the Gulf of Maine Coastal Program.
The Atlas and associated GIS data provides a helpful tool for Atlantic salmon researchers, resource managers involved in fish stocking and habitat restoration, and land trusts focusing on habitat protection. Alex Abbott, a GIS specialist and contractor actively engaged in completing the Atlas remarked, “Work is already underway to add more information to a future edition of the Atlas that will incorporate data from the St. Croix River, as well as additional historical survey data from Marsh Stream, Machias and East Machias tributaries.”
To access the Atlas and view surveyed spawning and rearing habitat and other significant points of interest along specific rivers in PDF file format, go to the Maine Office of GIS website at http://apollo.ogis.state.me.us, select “Maps,” find the “Maine Atlantic Salmon Habitat Map Series” and select the watershed of interest to you. You can view the data directly from the website, but if you are interested in frequently accessing data for a specific river system, you will want to download the information for quicker access.
If you want more detail than the Atlas provides, and if you have GIS software, you can access an ESRI ArcView Shapefile and metadata. The Shapefile provides information on the year and type of survey, along with the total area of habitat units (runs, riffles, falls and flats and associated spawning habitat) along the surveyed rivers. Go to the Maine Office of GIS website catalog at http://apollo.ogis.state.me.us/catalog, select "ASHAB3." Click “Show data" to download the zipped ArcView Shapefile or "View metadata" to learn more about the data.
If you want even more detail than the Maine Office of GIS website catalog provides, and if you have GIS software, Gulf of Maine Coastal Program can provide an additional ESRI ArcView Shapefile and metadata. The Shapefile provides information on substrate composition, habitat unit dimensions and other variables. Request this Shapefile from Alex Abbott (207-781-8364 ext. 21: alexoabbott@hotmail.com) or Jed Wright at U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Gulf of Maine Coastal Program (207-781-8364 ext. 12 ; Jed_Wright@fws.gov).
For more information, please contact:
- Alex Abbott c/o Gulf of Maine Coastal Program, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, 4R Fundy Rd. Falmouth, ME 04105 207-781-8364
- Maine Atlantic Salmon Commission, 650 State Street, Bangor, ME 04401 207-941-4449