GIS plays a key role in supporting fisheries management. The benthic habitat data of the GIS can be merged with a database of fisheries species to produce maps of fish distribution for identifying essential fish habitat. The development of such a fisheries database is critical for efficient fisheries management. This is particularly true since resources will show variable distribution across space and time. GIS is an excellent analysis tool to evaluate data in spatial and temporal components.

Fisheries Habitat Mapping utilizes three key technologies in managing, publishing and distributing customer's project data: a database management system by Oracle, ESRI's ArcIMS® vector server and Earth Resource Mapping's Image Web Server®.

ESRI's ArcIMS provides the foundation for disseminating high-end geographic information systems and mapping services via the Internet. ArcIMS enables users to integrate local data sources with Internet data sources for display, query and analysis in an easy-to-use Web browser.

Earth Resource Mapping's Image Web Server utilizes the patented Enhanced Compressed Wavelet (ECW) format for image serving and distribution. Clients can access their data over the Internet using any of the many free available plug-ins for GIS applications, including ArcView, AutoCAD and many more.

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Fugro Pelagos conducted a habitat mapping project in a small area south of Kodiak Island, Alaska, using the Research Vessel Davidson fitted with a hull mounted Reson 8111 multibeam echosounder system.