Dear all,
We are glad to inform you that in the interest of dissemination of data products to fisheries management agencies, the fishing community and the general public, the Multispecies Research Group of The Virginia Marine Institute of Marine Science is now providing online access to catch data via an interactive mapping application, Fishery Analyst Online <http://www.mappamondogis.it/fisheryanalystonline.htm> (FAO). The web GIS application allows querying the catch data based on species, date, individual length, sex, maturity stage, disease and displaying information about the number of individual caught or the total biomass. Point data can be aggregated in grids of a user defined size. Charts displaying catch by state, research cruise, month and length-frequency histograms are also generated. Currently available data are being collected under the Chesapeake Bay Multispecies Monitoring and Assessment Program, ChesMMAP, started in 2002 and the NorthEast Area Monitoring and Assessment Program, NEAMAP, started in 2006. These programs were developed to assist in filling data gaps, and ultimately to support stock-assessment modeling activities at both single and multispecies scales, maximize the biological and ecological information collected for several recreationally, commercially, and ecologically important species and to quantify geographic and seasonal distribution of these species. To access the web GIS application visit the VIMS website <http://www.vims.edu/fisheries/fao> : www.vims.edu/fisheries/fao Kind regards VIMS and Mappamondo GIS teams
