U.S. Geological Survey
Open-File Report 98-139
Version 1.0

Multibeam Data and Socio-Economic Issues in West-Central San Francisco Bay

Biological Habitats

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The bay waters, bayfloor, and surrounding wetlands are important components of the estuary, one of the most productive environments on earth. The bayfloor habitat is critical to development of important commercial and sports fisheries such as Dungeness crab, Chinook salmon, and Pacific herring. The newly acquired multibeam bathymetry shows that the morphology of these habitats is complex, ranging from bare rock pinnacles to wavy sediment-built bedforms.