Coastal Services Center

Coastal and Marine Ecological Classification Standard

A National Standard to Support Ecosystem-Based Resource Management

Coastal planners and resource managers routinely face challenge of obtaining habitat data of high quality and consistency. This lack of suitable data has prompted the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Coastal Services Center, in partnership with NatureServe and others to develop the Coastal and Marine Ecological Classification Standard Version III(CMECS), a standard ecological classification system that is universally applicable for coastal and marine systems and complementary to existing wetland and upland systems.

Why CMECS?

The CMECS framework accommodates all the required physical, biological, and chemical information that collectively determine a marine habitat type. This aids managers in better understanding the processes impacting these habitats. The CMECS system is technology independent, facilitating integration (cross-walking) of existing data into a single framework.

How Will It Be Used?

The CMECS structure is designed to support status and trend monitoring, policy development, restoration planning, ecological assessments, and fisheries management at the local and national levels.

CMECS Structure

CMECS Version III broadly classifies the environment into aquatic settings, or systems differentiated by salinity, geomorphology, and depth. Within these systems are five underlying components that describe different aspects of the relevant ecology.
The Water Column Component- describes the structure, patterns and processes of the water column
The Biotic Cover Component- is a hierarchical classification describing the biological composition and cover of the coastal and marine benthos
The Surface Geology Component- describes the geological composition and environment of the upper few centimeters of benthic or coastal substrate, including the structural aspects of biogenic substrates such as coral reefs.
The Sub-Benthic Component- describes characteristics of the sediments and soils, providing more detailed information on the composition of the entire sediment column.
The GeoForm Component- describes the major geomorphic or structural characteristics of the coast and seafloor at various scales
These components provide a structured way to organize information about coastal and marine habitats and a standard terminology for describing them. They can be identified and mapped independently or combined as needed.

The CMECS Partnership

NOAA Coastal Services Center (Ocean Service)
NOAA Office of Habitat Conservation (Fisheries)
NatureServe
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
MapCoast Partnership
U.S. Geological Survey
CMECS Working Group

Further Information

Federal Geographic Data Committee
Frequently Asked Questions

Contact Information

The CMECS FGDC Standard will become available for public input through the Federal Register in 2009.

To provide comments on the standard,
e-mail nos.csc.cmecs_WG@noaa.gov

To explore pilot project or partnership opportunities,
e-mail nos.csc.cmecs _IG@noaa.gov