Northern Gulf of Mexico Ecoregional Plan
Identification of Priority Sites for Conservation in
the Northern Gulf of Mexico: An Ecoregional Plan
(1.45 MB pdf file)
General Background Data contains three files, states, new states, and mexico states.
The states data (gom_states) are shapefiles containing the U.S. state polygons along
the Gulf of Mexico (AL, AR, FL, GA, LA, MS, OK, SC, TX). The generalized state outlines
and shorelines are used as the background for other habitat data. The new states data
(gom_new_states) are shapefiles containing U.S. state polygons along the gulf coast
(AL, FL, GA, LA, MS, SC, TX). These shape files show more detailed state outlines and shorelines.
The Mexico states data (mexico_states) are shapefiles that supplement the Mexico side of the Gulf
of Mexico background. The state outlines and shorelines are represented with very generalized outlines.
Northern Gulf of Mexico Priority Sites contains shapefiles of 8 high priority
site polygons along the northern Gulf of Mexico coastal nearshore ecoregion. There sites were
identified that if protected would fully represent the biological deversity of the nearshore waters
of this region. Please refer to gulf.pdf for more information.
Oyster and Worm Reef Data contains shapefiles of oyster reef data and rock
outcrops and serpulid worm reefs. The oyster reef data (ngomoy) is only for Texas, Alabama and Florida.
Louisiana and Mississippi data were not available in the format to show the geographical distribution;
thus the true distribution of the oyster reefs along the Northern Gulf of Mexico is underrepresented
in the data. The serpulid data (hardreef) are shapefiles delineating the general locations of rock
outcrops and serpulid worm reefs in Baffin Bay and Alazan Bay in Texas.
Seagrass Data contains two shapefiles. The seagrass data
(ngomsg) are combined to show the seagrass habitat distribution along the Northern Gulf of Mexico. The
shapefile contains the data from Laguna Madre, TX to New Smyrna Beach, FL, including the Florida Keys
to the South. The Florida seagrass data (flgrass92) extends from Perdido Bay, FL to Anclote Keys, FL.
Seagrass are classified into five density/% coverage categories. Tidal fresh grass (not true seagrass)
data are also included in this data.
Tidal Fresh Grass Data (ngomtfg) are combined to show the known occurrences
of tidal fresh grass along the Northern Gulf of Mexico. The data extends from around Corpus Christi
Bay, TX to Apalachicola Bay, Florida.
Tidal Wetland Data are three major tidal wetland habitat data sets (ngomsm, ngomssfo,
ngomtfm) which were derived from NWI and NWRC data. NWI data were used for Texas and Florida, and NWRC
data were used for Louisiana and Alabama. For the Apalachicola Bay, tidal fresh marsh data were separated
from NWFWMD data. The data are created to present general distributions of the tidal wetland habitats
along the coastal regions of Northern Gulf of Mexico.
Note: ESRI ArcView or ArcExplorer software is needed to view this data
Files were condensed using WinZip 8.0