During my GIS internship I will be working with Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission to create a geodatabase and layers to capture fish surveys conducted at artificial reefs in Florida.
FWC is responsible for recording the location and maintaining artificial reefs throughout Florida. In order to meet this requirement, the Commission conducts surveys on artificial reefs strategically in different regions of Florida. These surveys capture what species of fish were observed at the reef, the state of the reef structure, presence of natural hardbottom, and any boater activity on the reef. Currently these surveys are organized in an Excel database, however this lacks spatial data, and makes it difficult to visualize which reefs have been surveyed recently.
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| Artificial reef locations as they are maintained by FWC. Notice no surveys are present, only reef locations. |
As part of my internship, in addition to working as part of the FWC GIS User Group and interacting with GIS professionals at FWC, I will build a layer and entry process for the artificial reef surveys, so they can be captured and displayed within ArcPro.
In addition to the FWC GIS User Group, I have joined the American Water Resource Association, Florida chapter. This group is a network of spatial and water resource professionals in the region interested in hearing the latest news and issues associated with offshore, coastal, and urban water use in the state of Florida. More information can be found about the group at: https://www.awra.org/
