NEFSC 2003 Atlantic Herring Acoustic/Midwater Trawl Survey (DE0308, EK500). The NEFSC Atlantic herring acoustic survey is a fisheries independent survey that provides scientific data for Atlantic herring assessments in the U.S. mid-Atlantic and New England regions. The survey is conducted in the fall on pre-spawning and spawning herring primarily in the Georges Bank region, but with other historical sites in the Gulf of Maine surveyed. The survey is a systematic design with parallel transects oriented perpendicular to bathymetric features. Midwater trawl sites are selected on an ad hoc basis to sample acoustic backscatter attributed to Atlantic herring as well as backscatter by other organisms. The primary gear is multifrequency Simrad echosounders, but midwater trawl, CTD, and a host of other scientific sensor data are collected ancillary to the acoustic data.

Northern Right Whale Survey (DE0306, EK500). The right whale and cetacean survey primarily focuses on right whales in the coastal and continental shelf areas, with the following objectives: 1) Develop a better understanding of right whale habitat use and site fidelity for abundance and monitoring of critical areas, 2) Determine the distribution and relative abundance of plankton and prey species, 3) When possible, collect identification photographs and biopsy samples.

NEFSC 2002 Atlantic Herring Acoustic/Midwater Trawl Survey (DE0208, EK500). The NEFSC Atlantic herring acoustic survey is a fisheries independent survey that provides scientific data for Atlantic herring assessments in the U.S. mid-Atlantic and New England regions. The survey is conducted in the fall on pre-spawning and spawning herring primarily in the Georges Bank region, but with other historical sites in the Gulf of Maine surveyed. The survey is a systematic design with parallel transects oriented perpendicular to bathymetric features. Midwater trawl sites are selected on an ad hoc basis to sample acoustic backscatter attributed to Atlantic herring as well as backscatter by other organisms. The primary gear is multifrequency Simrad echosounders, but midwater trawl, CTD, and a host of other scientific sensor data are collected ancillary to the acoustic data.

NEFSC Small Pelagics Acoustic/Midwater Trawl Survey (DE0101, EK500). The small pelagics cruise will map the distribution of small pelagic species such as Atlantic mackerel, Atlantic herring, silver hake, butterfish, and squid, in the mid-Atlantic and Gulf of Maine regions of the northeast US. Acoustic data are the primary data and midwater trawl sites are selected on an ad hoc basis to sample acoustic backscatter attributed to small pelagic species. The primary gear is multifrequency Simrad echosounders, but midwater trawl, CTD, and a host of other scientific sensor data are collected ancillary to the acoustic data.

NEFSC Small Pelagics Acoustic/Midwater Trawl Survey (DE0201, EK500). The small pelagics cruise will map the distribution of small pelagic species such as Atlantic mackerel, Atlantic herring, silver hake, butterfish, and squid, in the mid-Atlantic and Gulf of Maine regions of the northeast US. Acoustic data are the primary data and midwater trawl sites are selected on an ad hoc basis to sample acoustic backscatter attributed to small pelagic species. The primary gear is multifrequency Simrad echosounders, but midwater trawl, CTD, and a host of other scientific sensor data are collected ancillary to the acoustic data.

NEFSC 2004 Deepwater Biodiversity (DE0408, EK500). The primary objective is to collect fish, cephalopod, and crustacean specimens from the bottom and midwaters at maximum depths possible with available trawl wire. These collections will be used for tissue samples, photographs of freshly collected specimens and systematic characters, and voucher specimens in museum collections at the National Museum of Natural History, Peabody Museum, the Museum of Comparative Zoology, and the Delaware Museum of Natural History. These collections and observations contribute to ongoing research on biodiversity of deepwater nekton and other megafauna in the western North Atlantic. Additionally, the cruise will provide educational experience in deep-sea biology to students several institutions.

NEFSC 2004 Atlantic Herring Acoustic/Midwater Trawl Survey (DE0413, EK500). The NEFSC Atlantic herring acoustic survey is a fisheries independent survey that provides scientific data for Atlantic herring assessments in the U.S. mid-Atlantic and New England regions. The survey is conducted in the fall on pre-spawning and spawning herring primarily in the Georges Bank region, but with other historical sites in the Gulf of Maine surveyed. The survey is a systematic design with parallel transects oriented perpendicular to bathymetric features. Midwater trawl sites are selected on an ad hoc basis to sample acoustic backscatter attributed to Atlantic herring as well as backscatter by other organisms. The primary gear is multifrequency Simrad echosounders, but midwater trawl, CTD, and a host of other scientific sensor data are collected ancillary to the acoustic data.

NEFSC Apex Predators Longline Survey (DE0407, EK500). The fishery independent survey of Atlantic large and small coastal sharks is conducted bi-annually in U.S. waters. Its primary objective is to conduct a standardized, systematic survey of the shark populations off the U.S. Atlantic coast to provide unbiased indices of relative abundance for species inhabiting the waters from Florida to the Mid-Atlantic. This survey also provides an opportunity to tag sharks with conventional and electronic tags as part of the NEFSC Cooperative Shark Tagging Program, inject with OTC for age validation studies, and to collect biological samples and data used in analyses of life history characteristics (age, growth, reproductive biology, trophic ecology, etc.) and other research of sharks in U.S. coastal waters including the collection of morphometric data for size conversions. The time series of abundance indices from this survey is critical to the evaluation of coastal Atlantic shark species.

NEFSC Small Pelagics Acoustic/Midwater Trawl Survey (DE0302, EK500). The small pelagics cruise will map the distribution of small pelagic species such as Atlantic mackerel, Atlantic herring, silver hake, butterfish, and squid, in the mid-Atlantic and Gulf of Maine regions of the northeast US. Acoustic data are the primary data and midwater trawl sites are selected on an ad hoc basis to sample acoustic backscatter attributed to small pelagic species. The primary gear is multifrequency Simrad echosounders, but midwater trawl, CTD, and a host of other scientific sensor data are collected ancillary to the acoustic data.

Northern Right Whale and Cetacean Survey (DE0108, EK500). The right whale and cetacean survey primarily focuses on right whales in the coastal and continental shelf areas, with the following objectives: 1) Develop a better understanding of right whale habitat use and site fidelity for abundance and monitoring of critical areas, 2) Determine the distribution and relative abundance of plankton and prey species, 3) When possible, collect identification photographs and biopsy samples.