September 8, 2022 — A one-stop tool allowing users to explore data on fish distribution and survey abundance, species life history, essential fish habitat (EFH), fish vulnerability to climate change and more has been launched by the New England and Mid-Atlantic Councils and their partners.
Dubbed the Northeast Regional Habitat Assessment Data Explorer, the website was developed as part of the Northeast Regional Marine Fish Habitat Assessment (NRHA), a collaborative, multi-disciplinary effort to describe and characterize estuarine, coastal and offshore fish habitat distribution, abundance and quality in the Northeast. A work team spent three years collecting and analyzing data and populating the Data Explorer with information for more than 65 finfish and shellfish species through 2019. New data will be added over time, the organizations report.