Skip to main content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

This site is currently in beta, and your feedback is helping shape its ongoing development.

Humboldt Bay Benthic Habitats 2009 Aquatic Setting

Published by Office for Coastal Management | National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce | Metadata Last Checked: February 07, 2026 | Last Modified: 2016-01-01T00:00:00.000+00:00
Humboldt Bay is the largest estuary in California north of San Francisco Bay and represents a significant resource for the north coast region. Beginning in 2007 the Coastal Services Center began collaborating with the California SeaGrant program and other local partners to support an ecosystem-based management (EBM) project for Humboldt Bay. One element of this project was to develop subtidal habitat goals for the long-term management of the bay and provide a framework for conservation and management across the land-sea interface. An aerial imagery-based mapping effort was conducted between 2008 and 2010 which produced a shallow benthic habitat map classified using the Florida System for Classifying Habitats in Estuarine and Marine Environments (SCHEME) system. This effort resulted in a single polygon shapefile which was later converted to the Coastal and Marine Ecological Classification Standard (CMECS)classification and organized into separate feature layers for three CMECS components; geoform, substrate, and biotic. Aquatic setting layers (#1 and #2) were produced to further populate the CMECS data structure. Ancillary data was used to accomplish this process in 2015. Original contact information: Contact Org: NOAA Office for Coastal Management Phone: 843-740-1202 Email: coastal.info@noaa.gov

data.gov

An official website of the GSA's Technology Transformation Services

Looking for U.S. government information and services?
Visit USA.gov