Sampling the coastal waters of the Gulf of Maine using the Northeast Fishery Science Center standardized bottom trawl has been problematic due to large areas of hard bottom and the proliferation of fixed fishing gear. Concerns that areas with significant fish biomass were not being sampled resulted in the NEFSC developing a summer bottom trawl survey in order to supplement sampling in this region. The NEFSC worked with regional fisherman to map areas accessible to bottom trawls and used this information to develop a sampling regime. A master list of towable areas was used to inform the stratified-random survey design which allowed sampling in these areas, while greatly reducing gear damage. This survey was conducted from 1991 through 1995.

The standardized NEFSC Winter Bottom Trawl Survey was initiated in 1992 and covered offshore areas from the Mid-Atlantic to Georges Bank. Inshore strata were covered from 1992-2007 but were later dropped, as few flatfish of interest were captured. Deep strata (183-366 m) were not covered consistently until 1998.