The goal of the cruise was to gather additional data on habitat and fish assemblages in six of the South Atlantic MPAs and OECA as part of a long-term sampling program to document changes in these areas before and after fishing restrictions are implemented. The southernmost boundary of our work areas was Port Canaveral, FL while the northern-most boundary was Cape Hatteras, NC. Efficacy testing of this management tool aids fishery managers in future use of area restrictions for the protection of valuable habitat and fishery resources. Specific objectives included: ● Daytime Operation: Conducted ROV transect surveys of habitat and fish assemblages and collections of corals and sponges during daylight hours. ● Daytime Operation: Conducted total water column CTD profiles ● Night Operation: Conducted multibeam mapping to find areas to dive on with the ROV the following day. ● Night Operation: Conducted XBT casts to collect sound velocity data for the mapping.

Between 30 May - 12 June 2021, we will conduct Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) and multibeam sonar surveys inside and outside six marine protected areas (MPAs) as well as inside and outside the Oculina Experimental Closed Area (OECA) in the south Atlantic to assess the efficacy of this management tool to protect species of the snapper grouper complex and Oculina coral. We will also investigate two additional spots of interest: Devil’s Hole Spawning Management Zone and Cape Lookout. The cruise is planned for the continental shelf edge of the South Atlantic Bight between Port Canaveral, FL and Cape Lookout, NC. We will be working in and around the following six MPAs, Oculina Experimental Closed Area, and two additional areas of interest (Figure 1): Florida MPA: Northwest corner at 30°29' N, 80°14' W; northeast corner at 30°29' N, 80°2' W; southwest corner at 30°19' N, 80°14' W; and southeast corner at 30°19' N, 80°2' W. Georgia MPA: Northwest corner at 31°43' N, 79°31' W; northeast corner at 31°43' N, 79°21' W; southwest corner at 31°34' N, 79°39' W; and southeast corner at 31°34' N, 79°29' W. Edisto MPA: Northwest corner at 32°24' N, 79°6' W; northeast corner at 32°24' N, 78°54' W, southwest corner at 32°18.5' N, 79°6' W and southeast corner at 32°18.5' N, 78°54' W. Charleston Deep Artificial Reef MPA: Northwest corner at 32°04' N, 79°12'W; northeast corner at 32°8.5'N, 79°7.75'W; southwest corner at 32°1.5'N, 79°9.3'W; and southeast corner at 32°6'N, 79°5'W. South Carolina MPA: Northwest corner at 32°53.5' N, 78°16.75' W; northeast corner at 32°53.5' N, 78°4.75' W; southwest corner at 32°48.5' N, 78°16.75' W; and southeast corner at 32°48.5' N, 78°4.75' W. Snowy Wreck MPA: Northwest corner at 33°25' N, 77°4.75' W; northeast corner at 33°34.75' N, 76°51.3' W; southwest corner at 33°15.75' N, 77°0' W; and southeast corner at 33°25.5' N, 76°46.5' W. Oculina Experimental Closed Area: Northern boundary at 27⁰ 53’N, Southern boundary at 27⁰ 30’N, Eastern boundary at 79⁰ 56’W, Western boundary at 80⁰W. Devil’s Hole Spawning Management Zone: Northwest corner at 32º 34.311’ N, 78º 34.996’ W; northeast corner at 32º 34.311’ N, 78º 33.220’ W; southwest corner at 32º 32.748’ N, 78º 34.996’ W; and southeast corner at 32º 32.748’ N, 78º 33.220’ W. Cape Lookout Site: Northwest corner at 34º 4.186’ N, 76º 17.188’ W; northeast corner at 33º 59.243’ N, 76º 12.991’ W; southwest corner at 33º 50.02’ N, 76º 34.922’ W; southeast corner at 33º 44.785’ N, 76º 30.526’ W. The goal of the cruise is to gather additional data on habitat and fish assemblages in six of the South Atlantic MPAs and OECA as part of a long term sampling program to document changes in these areas before and after fishing restrictions are implemented. The southernmost boundary of our work areas will be Port Canaveral, FL while the northernmost boundary will be Cape Lookout, NC. Efficacy testing of this management tool will aid fishery managers in future use of area restrictions for the protection of valuable habitat and fishery resources. Specific objectives include: Daytime Operation: Conduct ROV transect surveys of habitat and fish assemblages and collections of corals and sponges during daylight hours. Night Operation: Conduct multibeam mapping to find areas to dive on with the ROV the following day. Night Operation: Conduct total water column CTD profiles and XBT casts to collect sound velocity data for the mapping

NOAA Ship Pisces conducted applied fishery-independent sampling focusing on: 1. Assessment of spatial and temporal variability in distribution and abundance of various snapper-grouper fish species. 2. Collection of environmental and water quality information using Conductivity-Temperature-Depth sensor (CTD) casts. 3. Periodic hook-and-line sampling for additional life history and diet samples.

Operations focused on continental shelf and shelf-break waters between North Carolina and St. Lucie Inlet, Florida, between 18 and 200 m deep. Leg 1 took place July 4 through 16 (13 DAS).

The Ecosystem Monitoring (aka Ecomon) survery uses bongo and CTD sampling to monitor and map the distribution of zooplankton, krill and smaller organisms) and the physical environment. The survey has been conducted four times per year (although fewer times in recent years) in each season on the continental shelf from Cape Hatteras, NC to the Canadian waters of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. Acoustic data are occasionally collected. Marine mammal and bird observations have been collected in the past.

This cruise was the sixteenth year in which sediment samples were collected across a wide area of the Gulf of Maine to directly support the forecasting of HAB intensity and distribution for the coming year. The cruise took place from October 11-20, 2022 and involved the collection and processing of sediment at 68 stations.

During the PC-18-03 cruise, four moorings were turned around, whereby existing moorings and their instrumentation were recovered, and replaced by new and identical mooring at the same or a nearby location. The first work area is located in the northwestern tropical Atlantic ocean and includes the Northwest Tropical Atlantic Site (NTAS), which is occupied by a surface mooring, and the nearby Meridional Overturning Variability Experiment (MOVE) 1 site, occupied by a subsurface mooring. The second work area is closer to the Caribbean islands and includes two subsurface moorings at the MOVE 3 and 4 sites. NTAS is operated and serviced by the Upper Ocean Processes (UOP) group from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI). All MOVE moorings are operated and serviced by the Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO). For calibration purposes, comparison between measurements from moorings and ship were made during the turn around cruise. ARGO floats were also be deployed during transit out of Mayport towards the NTAS site. R/V Pisces departed Mayport FL on May 30 and returned to Morehead City NC on June 21 2018.

The goal of the cruise was to gather additional data on habitat and fish assemblages in six of the South Atlantic MPAs and OECA as part of a long-term sampling program to document changes in these areas before and after fishing restrictions are implemented. The southernmost boundary of our work areas was Port Canaveral, FL while the northern-most boundary was Cape Hatteras, NC. Efficacy testing of this management tool aids fishery managers in future use of area restrictions for the protection of valuable habitat and fishery resources. Specific objectives included: ● Daytime Operation: Conducted ROV transect surveys of habitat and fish assemblages and collections of corals and sponges during daylight hours. ● Daytime Operation: Conducted total water column CTD profiles ● Night Operation: Conducted multibeam mapping to find areas to dive on with the ROV the following day. ● Night Operation: Conducted XBT casts to collect sound velocity data for the mapping.

NOAA Ship Pisces conducted applied fishery-independent sampling focusing on: (1) assessment of spatial and temporal variability in distribution and abundance of various snapper grouper fish species using chevron traps and video cameras, (2) collection of EK-80 acoustics data for fish during trap-video deployment and retrieval, (3) collection of environmental and water quality information using Conductivity-Temperature-Depth sensor (CTD) casts, and (4) periodic hook-and-line sampling for additional life history and diet samples.

NOAA Ship Pisces conducted an acoustic mapping survey located on the continental shelf and shelf edge of the western SAB and eastern GOM from July 30th to August 13th, 2019. Shipboard acoustic systems (Simrad ME70) were used to map selected seafloor features and ME70 configurations were set to those used during the SEAMAP Reef Fish Video (RFV) survey of the GOM. Bathymetric mapping was used to increase the reef fish sampling universe and to close remaining gaps located on the shelf edge break. The cruise was conducted in this order: 1) A patch test was conducted to test the positional accuracy of the ME70 on a known seabed feature located in the SAB. 2) All remaining time was used for 24 h mapping operations with the ME70. A CTD cast was conducted at the beginning and end of each mapping area to obtain speed-of-sound for proper processing of data.