NF-13-06L2 Mapping Essential Fish Habitat in the Southeast US (EK60)

Cruise NF-12-04-SERA (Sanctuary Regional Development and Assessment) (EK60). 1)Ship based mapping and characterization of benthic habitats in the waters around Gray’s Reef National Marine Sanctuary. Collected data will need to include backscatter.2)Continuation of invertebrate recruitment investigation in Gray’s Reef. This project will include diving to assess the colonization and succession of invertebrates to a natural substrate. 3)Continue investigations to quantify variation in space and time of the abundance ofschooling prey and mid-water predators at mid-shelf reefs: this involves conducting survey lines using the EK-60 survey system. 4)Continue collecting data on the abundance,diversity and distribution of both fishes and invertebrates both in side and outside the proposed Research Area in Gray’s Reef.This will require divers to conduct visual fis hcensuses along transects and take pictures of quadrats to assess invertebrate fauna. 5)Gray’s Reef would like to explore the possibility of conducting night dives aboard its own diving vessels provided that this does not present theNancy Fostercrew with unduestaffing/overtime issues and would be worked out in advance of conducting operations.

NF-14-03 Gray's Reef National Marine Sanctuary Southeast Regional Ecosystem (EK60)

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The objectives of this project are to 1) collect high resolution multibeam and fisheries acoustic data in depths approximately 10 to 1000 meters so as to continue to characterize seafloor habitats and fish biomass hotpots in priority areas in the SE US Atlantic Waters (Outer Continental Shelf) including hardbottom seafloor habitats, sand shoals and ridges, and Ocean Dredge Material Disposal Sites (ODMDS, US Environmental Protection Agency), 2) validate seafloor habitat types using drop cameras from small boats, and 3) conduct ecological assessments of ODMDS and adjacent hardbottom habitats to determine habitat value. In addition, this project will include piggy-back objective: 1) evaluate a new unmanned surface vehicle (USV) for use in extending capabilities for seafloor mapping by NOAA survey, researchers and partners.

Cruise NF-12-05-SBNMS (Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary) (EK60). The project will place synchronous motion, acoustic recording tags on humpback and fin whales, while concurrently measuring prey field size, shape and composition. The goal is to understand water column use by endangered whales and how prey patch characteristics influence whale behavior as a way to recommend mitigation measures related to collisions between endangere d whales and commercial ships and/or fishing gear. Additionally, whale acoustic data collected will allow us to evaluate the efficacy of passive acoustic monitoring for these species by age and reproductive class.

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The mission of the Office of National Marine Sanctuaries (ONMS) is to conserve, protect, and enhance the biodiversity, ecological integrity, and cultural legacy of specially designated marine protected areas around the world. NOAA has recently given clearance to begin scoping meetings to explore expansion of the Monitor National Marine Sanctuary (MNMS). This project will allow MNMS to inventory and assess resources in the proposed new expansion areas. Data collected in these new areas and within the existing sanctuary is critical to expansion and the completion of the MNMS Condition Report. This project also furthers ONMS and NCCOS goals by providing critical data to support our understanding of essential fish habitat on both naturally occurring and anthropomorphic bottom features on the continental shelf off the mid-Atlantic coast. This project employs new advances in underwater acoustic seafloor mapping technologies that will not only assess the biota of live bottom habitats but also submerged cultural resources such as shipwrecks, that have become essential fish habitats in their current role as artificial reefs. Acoustic survey methods, along with multi-beam mapping provide an efficient method on producing information on fish distribution, areas of high productivity, seafloor features, and cultural resources.

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NF-12-02-CSC BEAMS program (EK60). The primary scientific goal of the cruise is to continue to gather multibeam sonar data along the continental shelf edge off South Carolina in the vicinity of Habitat Areas of Particular Concern and Marine Protected Areas. This work contributes to the characterization of the extent, range and variety of seafloor/benthic habitats along the continental shelf-edge. .