Regional mapping initiatives
Regional seafloor mapping initiatives were highlighted in the presentations and posters at the conference. These include the Gulf of Maine Mapping Initiative (GoMMI) which is a U.S.-Canadian partnership of government and nongovernment organizations. Its goal is to conduct comprehensive seafloor imaging, mapping, and biological and geological surveys and is working to secure funding for multibeam surveys. Areas of the Eastern Scotian Shelf, the Western Gulf of Maine, Massachusetts Bay and other inner-shelf areas of Massachusetts have been mapped using multibeam and interferometric swath-mapping techniques, subbottom profiling, and seabed sampling systems. On the Eastern Scotian Shelf, these data were integrated and analyzed focusing on the production of seabed maps in support of the sea scallop fisheries industry. Similar benthic habitat maps are being produced for Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary. Comprehensive seabed geologic mapping has been conducted in the New York Bight continental shelf and varied geophysical and bathymetric techniques have been applied to other areas in the Gulf of Maine, Chesapeake Bay, the Outer Banks, northern South Carolina, and the continental slope along the entire eastern seaboard.