A survey of the ocean floor off the Oregon coast is getting under way to provide detailed undersea maps that will help protect marine habitat.

The mapping is critical to scientists trying to better understand the coastal environment along with commercial fishermen and government agencies who need more information for important decisions about siting marine reserves and wave energy buoys.

The maps will cover about a third of state waters and three-quarters of its rocky reefs, recording every shape in the ocean between 10 meters deep and three miles from shore, where Oregon-owned waters meet federal ocean territory. The federal government plans to use the data from the surveys to update nautical charts now based on depth information acquired before 1939. Read Article