Turbot – Scophthalmus maximus – Habitat Suitability Index (HIS)

The Black Sea Fisheries Digital Twin is implemented in the north western part of the Black Sea. Covering the shores of Romania, Bulgaria and Ukraine, this use case aims to provide a modern, intuitive tool for the fishermen. 

The DT provides access to valuable information, such as favorable areas for specific species, in order to help fishermen to maximize the economic efficiency of their activities. The DT is to identify the favorable conditions for fishing. Habitat Suitability Index (HIS) is implemented to reflect the optimal conditions for specific species. In this specific case, the HSI is calculated for Turbot – Scophthalmus maximus. For the turbot analysis, a dedicated model was constructed using the in-situ catch data provided by the National Institute for Marine Research and Development. This regionally calibrated model was then applied to monthly datasets for a ten-year period (January 2013 - December 2022).

For the HSI a couple of parameters were used:

1. Temperature: Black Sea High Resolution and Ultra High Resolution Sea Surface Temperature Analysis - SST_BS_SST_L4_NRT_OBSERVATIONS_010_006 and Black Sea Physics Reanalysis - BLKSEA_MULTIYEAR_PHY_007_004 (CMEMS);

2. Salinity: Black Sea Physics Reanalysis - BLKSEA_MULTIYEAR_PHY_007_004 (CMEMS);

3. Primary Production: Black Sea Biogeochemistry Reanalysis - BLKSEA_REANALYSIS_BIO_007_005 (CMEMS);

4. Sea Surface Height (SSH) and currents velocity: Black Sea Physics Reanalysis - BLKSEA_MULTIYEAR_PHY_007_004.

5. Dissolved oxygen concentration: Black Sea Physics Reanalysis - BLKSEA_MULTIYEAR_PHY_007_004.

6. Marine fronts (generated based on temperature products);

7. Bathymetry: GEBCO - General Bathymetric Chart of the Oceans (UNESCO IHO/IOC).

File type - multiband geotiff

Temporal resolution - monthly - 2013.01.01-2022.12.01

Spatial resolution - 1km

Data type: Float32 - Thirty-two-bit floating point

File naming convention - hsi_monthly_2013_2022_turbot_1km - Habitat Suitability Index _ temporal resolution _ time coverage _ turbot _ spatial resolution 1 km

Inside the archive, the .sld file helps you to symbolize data within a GIS or WEB GIS environment.