Coastal and Marine Ecological Classification Standard CMECS

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Coastal and Marine Ecological Classification
Standard (CMECS)

• Version III

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
(NOAA) NatureServe
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Issues

• Currently over 100 systems used for classifying
  benthic habitats
• Few systems used by more than one
  party/advocate
• Most systems tied to a particular technology
• Ultimate purpose of most systems not well
  defined
• Most coastal/marine mapping done on a local or
  state level
• No existing marine or pelagic standard beyond
• Cowardin

Diaz, Solan Valente, 2004Journal of
Environmental Management
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Needs

• A universally-accepted classification system
• OR
• A framework/standards that all classification
  systems can report to

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Goals of the CMECS Standard

• Support conservation efforts
• Facilitate standardization Glossaries,
  vocabularies
• Build on existing classifications
• Be applicable at various scales local, regional,
  and continental
• Visualization Multi-dimensional maps in GIS
• Foster broad audience adoption
• Integrate with global systems (EUNIS, BioMar)

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Objectives of CMECS

• Capable of including all four seascape components
  in one structure, including water column
• Technology independent
• Not geographically constrained
• Lower levels to remain open with
• process for adding new units at
• the lower levels

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Current Structure of CMECS

• Benthic Cover (BCC) Describes the
  geomorphologic, physico-chemical, and biological
  composition of the coastal and marine substrate
• Water Column (WCC) Describes the structure,
  patterns, processes, and biology of the overlying
  water column
• Geoform (GFC) Describes the major geomorphic or
  structural characteristics of the coast and
  seafloor at various scales
• Sub-benthic (SBC) New addition to describe the
  sediments and biology within the benthic
  substrate
• Modifiers Additional attributes that further
  describe units in the major components

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CMECS Components
GeoForm Component
Water Column Component
Benthic Cover Component
WCC
Sub-Benthic Component
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What are the intended applications for
CMECS-Compliant Data?

• Resource inventory
• Conservation and restoration planning
• Individual habitat queries
• Conservation status assessment and monitoring
• Ecosystem services management
• Regional and national resource assessment
• Data sharing facilitation
• EFH delineation

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Pilots and Current Testing
Desktop Pilots
Current Projects

• Redfish Bay
• Mobile Bay
• Florida Bay
• South Atlantic Bight
• Mass CZM comparison

• Humboldt Bay
• Long Island South Shore

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Development Process To-Date

• Marathon Workshop (Allee et al. 2000)
• Charleston Workshop (Madden et al. 2003)
• CMECS I (Madden and Grossman 2004)
• CMECS II and CMECS glossary (Madden, Grossman,
  and Goodin 2005)
• Columbia River Pilot (Wright et al. 2006)
• Charleston Workshop (NOAA/NS 2006)
• Draft Version III (Madden et al. 2008)
• Mapping Guidance Criteria Report (Green et al.
  2008)

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Integration with Existing Standards

• FGDC Standards

• Adopting Cowardin (Nat. Wetland Std.) in areas
  of overlap and reconciling definitions
• Incorporating National Vegetation Classification
  system elements in BCC Group and Biotopes

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Integration with Existing Standards

• Other Commonly Used Systems

• NOAA Corals (Coral ecosystems)
• NOAA NERR System (small nearshore aquatic and
  coastal terrestrial areas)
• Greene et al. (Pacific deepwater marine
  geoforms)
• MapCoast (Shallow subaqueous soil areas)
• System for Classifying Habitats in Estuarine and
  Marine
• Environments SCHEME (Florida state waters)

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Adoption by Other National/International Efforts

• National Fish Habitat Action Plan
• National Park Service
• IABIN
• OBIS
• Gulf of Mexico Alliance
• West Coast Governors Alliance

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A Standard that Makes a Difference

• Implementation guidance will accompany the
  standard
• living documents
• Crosswalk tools to allow users to integrate
  information from
• different sources
• Process for adding new units (Biotopes)
• Training for users