West Coast Seagrass Communities (1999)

These data describe the seagrass, unvegetated bottom, open water, algal beds, oysters, and apparent shoreline for the Southwest Florida Seagrass project area, which consists of Pine Island Sound, Matlacha Pass, San Carlos Bay, the lower Caloosahatchee River, and Estero Bay, in 1999. Features were interpreted from aerotriangulated aerial photography and vector data were compiled using ArcGIS. Horizontal accuracy of meets national map accuracy statndards (NMAS) for 1:12,000 scale maps. The minimum mapping unit for classification was 0.5 acres.These data were compiled to evaluate the ecological health of coastal ecosystems for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission's Florida Marine Research Institute (FMRI) in partnership with the South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD) as part of the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Program's Monitoring and Assessment Plan. These data compilation efforts are a continuation of previous efforts to determine the status and trends (if any) of submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV) resources in the coastal waters of the SFWMD to determine the performance of ongoing efforts to improve water quality and quantity in coastal waters of the District.