MATOS - Mid-Atlantic Acoustic Telemetry Observation System

Project Title: Mallows Bay-Potomac River National Marine Sanctuary Acoustic Telemetry Study

MATOS Project Code: MALLOWS

Data Type: Deployment

Project Duration: January 2015 - on-going

Project Description: The Mallows Bay-Potomac River National Marine Sanctuary (MPNMS) is an 18-square mile sanctuary located in the Potomac River of the Chesapeake Bay. The southern region of the Potomac River where the sanctuary is located has a diversity of both native and non-native fish species, such as bass, catfish, crappie, sunfish, perch, striped bass, blue catfish, and snakehead. The "Ghost Fleet" of over 100 sunken shipwrecks at Mallows Bay provides a unique habitat structure for both terrestrial and aquatic species, and is hypothesized to play an important role in providing fish habitat. The Smithsonian Environmental Research Center contributes an acoustic receiver maintained by Maryland DNR to monitor species that visit the sanctuary. The data collected from this receiver will help NOAA MPNMS staff and partners better understand what species are present in the sanctuary, including the presence of any rare, endangered, or threatened species.

Objectives:

Determine which species are both commonly and less commonly present within the sanctuary
Develop seasonal summaries to monitor trends and any changes in species composition over time
Develop interpretive materials to share information about this data with the public

Principal Investigator:	Megan Ossmann (NOAA)
Email:	megan.ossmann@noaa.gov

Point of Contact:	Kimberly Richie
Email:	richiek@si.edu

Collaborators:

Matthew Ogburn
Mark Trice

Participating Organizations:

Smithsonian Environmental Research Center
Maryland Department of Natural Resources

External URL: https://sanctuaries.noaa.gov/mallows-potomac/

Mallows Bay National Marine Sanctuary