Description: <span style="font-family:"Avenir Next W01", "Avenir Next W00", "Avenir Next", Avenir, "Helvetica Neue", sans-serif; font-size:16px;">Seagrass is a critical estuarine habitat. Resource managers need to know the extent and distribution of seagrass within the estuary to ensure that negative impacts to these critical habitats are avoided. This file was created to inform the Spatial Planning Tool for Oyster Mariculture in Texas, which requires avoidance of seagrass habitats by 200 feet, but can be used to inform any coastal project review where seagrass habitats must be avoided. Information about the data source, including survey year, are included as attributes so that older features can be interpreted with discretion.</span><div style="font-family:"Avenir Next W01", "Avenir Next W00", "Avenir Next", Avenir, "Helvetica Neue", sans-serif; font-size:16px;"><br /></div><div style="font-family:"Avenir Next W01", "Avenir Next W00", "Avenir Next", Avenir, "Helvetica Neue", sans-serif; font-size:16px;">All known and inventoried seagrass data layers were merged to create the product, including the various seagrass Status and Trends reports in Texas (Pulich et al. 1997 (CCBEP), Handley et al. 2007 (USGS), White et al. 2002 (BEG)), the NOAA Texas Benthic Atlas (Finkbeiner et al. 2007), and TPWD authoritative mapping efforts. These files were projected to the same datum (WGS 84). All inconsistent attributes were deleted, and a "SurveyName" attribute was added to each file to reference the source data. Files were then merged, and attribute information was added to each feature according to the "SurveyName". Attributes include the survey year, survey method (aerial imagery or transect), original surveying agency ("Source"), survey extent (SurvLocation), the Minimum Mapping Unit (MMU), and accuracy (if reported). The individual feature layers are also hosted by TPWD-Coastal Fisheries. </div><div style="font-family:"Avenir Next W01", "Avenir Next W00", "Avenir Next", Avenir, "Helvetica Neue", sans-serif; font-size:16px;"><br /></div><div style="font-family:"Avenir Next W01", "Avenir Next W00", "Avenir Next", Avenir, "Helvetica Neue", sans-serif; font-size:16px;">This layer only displays the extent (presence/absence) of seagrass based on these surveys - habitat qualifiers (such as continuity or density) are not included. TPWD will update this layer on an annual basis. Last update, May 2021.</div>