Summary

Description

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.