Mapping Essential Fish Habitat

The eight regional fishery management councils work with NOAA Fisheries Service to describe and identify EFH for each life stage of each managed species. These EFH descriptions and identifications provide the public information on those marine, coastal and riverine habitats most important to fisheries, and enable Federal agencies to determine whether or not an action may adversely affect EFH. Identifying an area as EFH does not result in the exclusion of any specific activities in the area, but is instead meant to highlight those areas most important to maintaining sustainable fisheries.

The data used to map Essential Fish Habitat (EFH) and Habitat Areas of Particular Concern (HAPC) was created by the eight regional Fishery Management Councils to supplement the official textual descriptions of EFH contained in the fishery management plans. Although the textual descriptions, along with the site-specific analysis of regional experts, are ultimately determinative of the presence or absence of EFH, the importance of mapping data was recognized and codified in the EFH Regulatory Guidelines.

While, in most cases, mapping data cannot fully represent the complexity of the habitats that make up EFH, it can be very useful as a tool for visualization and analysis. To better integrate and evaluate all of the spatial EFH data created by the regional Councils, the NOAA Fisheries Office of Habitat Conservation has developed the EFH Text Descriptions & GIS inventory and mapper tool accessible through this Website. The inventory lists information available by managed species. The mapping tool produces maps & text descriptions by geographic area of interest.

It should be noted that the mapping data were developed using methodologies that reflected regional differences in both source data and management needs. Because of the variability in the quality and intended usage of these GIS data layers, each should be considered individually when interpreting the accuracy and utility of the information that they provide. Please consult the information on data quality and the usage constraints for each data layer to accurately understand and interpret these data.