GIS in Fisheries

• Objective is to assess the region-wide spatio-temporal patterns of key NW Atlantic species (cod, capelin, snow crab, northern shrimp) in relation to trophic, environmental and fisheries trends.

• Analysis draws upon a new standardized geodatabase containing three decades of fisheries and environmental data from all four Atlantic DFO regions and the US Gulf of Maine

• Interpolation and analysis of catch data using geostatistics, comparison of spatio-temporal trends of fisheries resources in Atlantic DFO regions using spatial indices, modelling of catch data using spatial regressions.

• Part of the GeoCod Project (www.ucs.mun.ca/~rdeville/geocod), a multi-partner initiative comprised of industry, government and Canadian Universities and funded by the GEOIDE network and the Canadian Center for Fisheries Innovation (CCFI)

Graphic 1: Interpolated surfaces of DFO scientific survey catches showing progressive decline in distribution and abundance of Atlantic cod off Newfoundland and Labrador. Created using ArcScene 9.2.

Graphic 2: Example of a spatial regression analysis (GWR) using DFO scientific survey trawl catches of a) cod, b) shrimp, and c) measured bottom temperature to predict d) the distribution of cod at unsampled locations. Created using GWR 3.0 software and ArcMap 9.2.