NATIONAL COASTAL DATA DEVELOPMENT CENTER
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Protected Species Maps

NCDDC developed Protected Species maps for Johnson’s Seagrass and Gulf Sturgeon in the Tampa Bay wetlands area and the northern Gulf of Mexico.



In 2003, at the request of NOAA's National Marine Fisheries Service - Protected Resources Division (NMFS-PRD), the National Coastal Data Development Center (NCDDC) created several maps displaying the critical habitat areas for selected species in the Gulf of Mexico and Southeastern Atlantic Ocean.  The maps represent two threatened species:  Johnson’s Seagrass in Florida and the Gulf Sturgeon in the Gulf of Mexico.

Johnson's Seagrass

A threatened species, Johnson’s seagrass prefers to grow in the sandy bottoms of coastal lagoons in the intertidal zone. This seagrass species grows only in southeastern Florida – from Sebastian Inlet to Biscayne Bay.  Most importantly, it serves as a food resource for other threatened and endangered species, including green sea turtles and West Indian manatees.

Johnson’s seagrass grows very slowly. Unfortunately, its preferred shallow critical habitat areas also include high risk areas for damage from boat propellers and water quality degradation. The slow reproduction rate and the high damage risk along with the limited range of the species have earned the Johnson’s seagrass the threatened species classification by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

The maps created by NCDDC show the critical habitat areas for the Johnson’s seagrass in Fort Pierce and in Biscayne Bay. The NMFS-PRD produced official descriptions of the critical habitat which provided the actual boundaries of the site.

Gulf Sturgeon

A subspecies of the Atlantic sturgeon, this large fish feeds on the bottom as an adult, eating primarily invertebrates such as insect larvae, worms, mollusks, and crustaceans.  As an anadromous fish species, the adults live and feed in the Gulf of Mexico and its estuaries, but they reproduce in fresh water rivers, returning to breed in the upstream river systems in which they hatched.  As humans have created more dams and locks along these rivers, this fish species has declined. Dredging, desnagging, and other channel improvement and maintenance activities also affect this species.

The maps created by NCDDC reflect the critical habitat designations for Gulf Sturgeon, as finalized by the NMFS in March 2003. These areas represent the habitats for juvenile and adult Gulf Sturgeon.