Benthic Mapping Report Phase II (2009)

“Benthic habitat maps of the estuary seafloor can increase our knowledge of the range and variability in benthic habitats, assist managers in their efforts to protect and/or restore commercially and recreationally important finfish and shellfish, link land usage (e.g. developed vs. undeveloped areas) and water quality data to benthic habitat quality, and make it possible to utilize faunal data as a long-term indicator of the overall –health” of the estuary. The report developed benthic habitat maps by combining high-resolution remote sensing techniques with detailed study of the physical and faunal characteristics at point locations in different seafloor environments. In Phase II, five regions (Great Peconic West, South Race, Jessup Neck, Pipes Cove, and Orient Delta) were acoustically mapped and sampled. Sonar mapping used multibeam swath bathymetry to generate backscatter images that allowed classification of the sea bed into provinces. Samples for macrofauna and sediment properties were collected within each province to provide “ground truth” for the acoustic maps.