DELAWARE BAY BENTHIC MAPPING PROJECT: OYSTER HABITAT IDENTIFICATION AND BOTTOM SEDIMENT DISTRIBUTION

The decline of the oyster industry along the mid-Atlantic region has initiated Delaware and New Jersey to partner in an attempt to assess the status of the oyster habitat in the Delaware Bay. As part of the Coastal Program of the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control project to identify and map the benthic habitat and sub-bottom sediments of the Delaware Bay, remote acoustics (Roxann Seabed Classification and Chirp Sub-bottom profiler) along with field verification, were utilized to map 101 square miles of oyster habitat.

This project has identified the spatial extent and relative density of oyster shell on the bay bottom, while also determining the composition of the regional surrounding sediments. As a whole, 195 square miles of bay bottom has been mapped, which has resulted in a greater understanding of the local and region sediment distribution patterns and transport pathways.

Bottom and sub-bottom sediment maps were compiled into an ArcMap database, which included all historical oyster bed outlines and oyster dredge abundance data. The full integration of this data allowed, for the first time, a comprehensive spatial assessment of current oyster bottom conditions, in addition to overall bottom sediment conditions. Integration of the acoustic mapping and database development by the Delaware Coastal Program was conduced with the intent of greatly improving the management of the Delaware Bay resources, such as the oyster fisheries.