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Recent Trends in Geographic Information Systems Education and Fisheries Research Applications at U.S. Universities
Author(s) -
Fisher William L.,
Toepfer Conrad S.
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
fisheries
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.725
H-Index - 79
eISSN - 1548-8446
pISSN - 0363-2415
DOI - 10.1577/1548-8446(1998)023<0010:rtigis>2.0.co;2
Subject(s) - fisheries science , fishery , geography , fisheries research , regional science , environmental resource management , fisheries management , environmental science , fishing , biology , fish <actinopterygii>
Geographic information systems (GIS) technology is rapidly becoming a management and research tool for fisheries professionals. We surveyed fisheries programs at 42 U.S. universities about their training in GIS and uses of GIS in fisheries research; twenty‐four universities responded. Our survey revealed that fisheries students who use GIS take introductory and advanced GIS courses offered in earth science departments at their universities and/or seminars on applications of GIS in natural resources offered in their departments. A solid core of GIS courses is available at U.S. universities for fisheries students interested in developing this expertise. On average, twenty‐one percent to forty percent of fisheries faculty and students indicated they occasionally used GIS in their research. The most common fisheries‐related uses of GIS were mapping and modeling fish distributions and aquatic habitats, and evaluating the effects of watershed land use on fish populations, communities, and habitats. In addition to traditional descriptive applications of GIS for mapping fish distributions and aquatic habitats for research and management purposes, we see the potential for prescriptive fisheries applications in areas such as modeling and forecasting changes in aquatic habitats, estimating fish population abundances in unsampled areas, developing fisheries sampling designs, and integrating human population trends with biological and aquatic habitat trends.