NEFSC 2007 Bottom Trawl Survey Calibration (HB0710, 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. |