| The NEFSC bottom trawl survey is a fisheries independent, multi-species survey that
provides the primary scientific data for fisheries assessments in the U.S. mid-Atlantic
and New England regions. Two bottom trawl surveys are conducted each year, one in
the spring and one in the autumn. The survey is a standardized, stratified random
design, with stratification based on bathymetry and multiple trawl sites within each
stratum. Trawl sites are selected randomly, but the overall ship path is south to
north. The survey covers the continental shelf and U.S. exclusive economic zone (EEZ)
from Cape Hatteras, North Carolina into the Canadian EEZ. The primary gear is a bottom
trawl, with CTD, multifrequency echosounder, and a host of other scientific sensor
data collected ancillary to the bottom trawl catches. The bottom trawl survey was
normally conducted on the AL IV, but due to mechanical issues, the DE II was used
for 2003 spring. |