A Web-based Fisheries Oceanographic Information System for the Bering Sea

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A prerequisite for better understanding the factors influencing the dynamics of marine populations in space and time is the integration, within a unified spatial modeling framework, of series of quantitative survey data on species distributions, environmental information, and model results. The interactive electronic fisheries atlas for the Bering Sea combines these features with standardized protocols for data access within an oceanographic Web-GIS to support the information needs of scientists and decision makers. Building upon informatics tools and approaches developed during GMBIS (Gulf of Maine Biogeographic Information System project), the Alaskan fisheries atlas combines historical fisheries catch survey and gut contents databases from NMFS-AFSC with coincident physical data and an extensive series of satellite imagery of diverse types. The resulting system allows users to interactively explore across the Internet via an intuitive, browser-based GIS interface the temporal evolution of species distribution patterns and trophic interactions in relation to diverse environmental datasets. This paper summarizes technical aspects of the system, and outlines its possible future usage as tool supporting marine ecosystem studies.