Landings from the NEFSC CFDBS was aggregated into the Georges Bank and Gulf of Maine regions for commercially and ecologically important taxa. The goal was to use this data in a surplus production modeling workshop to explore the effects of fishing and climate on individual species, functional groups, and the whole ecosystem.

The initial conditions and carrying capacity estimates for the prawn stocks in NWS InVitro were calculated using catch data and biological information taken from the WA Department of Fisheries (2002) submission to Environment Australia regarding the Exmouth Gulf Prawn Fishery. This information was converted to total stock sizes using the assessment rule of thumb that catch at Maximum Sustainable Yield equals 12% of virgin biomass and cross checked using the methods outlined in Taylor and Dichmont (2001). This resulted in an upper bound on the estimate of maximum total biomass of 15000t for western king prawns, with a lower bound of 8000t and a median of 12000t. For the banana prawns the upper bound on biomass was again 15000t, but the lower bound was 4000t and the median was 8000t. All other prawn biological parameters were based on Kailola et al. (1993) and Taylor and Dichmont (2001).

The delineation of spatial ecological and management units is an important aspect of effective ecosystem-based fisheries management. Research at the Northeast Fisheries Science Center (NEFSC) was conducted to define ecological units, or geographic areas which are characterized by similar patterns in depth, bottom type, basic oceanographic conditions related to temperature, salinity, and stratification (layering) of the water column, major marine community and food web patterns control the production potential of a region, . This work provides an objective definition of ecological regions of the shelf system, and are the geographic/ecological scales best suited for development of integrated ecosystem assessments.

The delineation of spatial ecological and management units is an important aspect of effective ecosystem-based fisheries management. Research at the Northeast Fisheries Science Center (NEFSC) was conducted to define ecological units, or geographic areas which are characterized by similar patterns in depth, bottom type, basic oceanographic conditions related to temperature, salinity, and stratification (layering) of the water column, major marine community and food web patterns control the production potential of a region, . This work provides an objective definition of ecological regions of the shelf system, and are the geographic/ecological scales best suited for development of integrated ecosystem assessments.

The main market sampling program in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) is the new biosampling program implemented in late 2010 on the island of Saipan. It is a joint Division of Fish and Wildlife (DFW) and industry project with a local environmental consulting firm doing most of the field work, data processing, and obtaining of life history samples. DFW is working up some of the life history samples for that aspect of the project. It is strictly a voluntary data collection system requiring ingenuity to obtain the participation of a large percentage of the main fish vendors on the islands of Saipan, Rota and Tinian. All catches are from the CNMI with some of them coming from up to 100 miles from Saipan. It is a census sampling program of 100% of the commercial harvest of a subsample of the trips landing during any sampling period. Due to logistics and resource limitations, the majority of sampling was initially (Dec 2010-late 2012) focused on the spearfish reef fish fishery on Saipan. This has since expanded to include information on the bottomfish fishery as well data from Tinian and Rota. Life history samples are also being collected on several species on reef fish and one deep bottomfish. These data are considered confidential.

Scientists at NOAA's Northeast Fisheries Science Center (NEFSC) are using environmental DNA (eDNA) to identify fish communities and monitor ecosystems by collecting a water sample and analyzing the DNA found in it, identifying the species that left it behind without capturing a single animal. As animals swim, they shed scales, tissue, and waste, leaving traces of DNA in the water. A water sample is first collected from the ocean and filtered to concentrate DNA in it. NOAA scientists then make millions of copies of a target DNA region through polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to make enough genetic material for high throughput sequencing. The metabarcoding process described above for eDNA analysis allows scientists to look for many species in the same sample. The final step is like a matching game, in which the DNA sequences are compared with a reference library of known species to find a match. The eDNA method is particularly useful for detecting species that are not easily captured, including rare or migratory species. It can also help in areas that are difficult to sample because of challenging ocean conditions, sensitive habitats, or a rugged seafloor. An eDNA analysis provides a snapshot of the community of species at the time of sampling and over time. This can help us detect shifts in marine ecosystems. eDNA samples have been collected on NOAA Ecosystem Monitoring (EcoMon) surveys since 2019. These samples will help develop best eDNA practices using metabarcoding, an innovative way to determine what fish species live in what parts of the ocean without actually seeing any fish.

The Guam Commercial Fisheries Biosampling program, which collects length and weight frequency data for whole commercial catches, and samples 4-8 species for in-depth life history studies as well as DNA (finclips) and voucher specimens for the Fish Barcode of life, began in August, 2009. Guam has had very little market-based commercial size sampling over the years. However, the new bio-sampling program has been quite successful and robust, due to the cooperation and participation of the Guam Fishermen's Cooperative Association. Census sampling of a high percentage of the non-pelagic fishing trips has been conducted since late 2009. As with the other CFBS programs, catch, effort, and fishing location are recorded for a majority of the fishing trips and every fish or invertebrate harvested is identified, measured and weighed for each fishing method encountered with the exception of trolling. Life history samples are also collected and processed for a number of reef fish species. These data are considered confidential. Continuation is subject to availability of funds.

These files contain rasterized interpolated biomass distributions for fish and invertebrate species caught in NOAA Fisheries fishery-independent surveys. The distribution maps were produced for the Distribution Mapping and Analysis Portal (DisMAP) project. The distributions were generated from catch-per-unit-effort data from the fisheries-independent surveys. This data set covers 8 regions of the United States: Northeast, Southeast, Gulf of Mexico, West Coast, Eastern Bering Sea, Aleutian Islands, Gulf of Alaska, and Hawai’i islands.