NEFSC 2009 Spring Bottom Trawl Survey (HB0901, EK60). 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. |