2010-2017 Vessel Monitoring System (VMS) data were used from the NOAA Office of Law Enforcement to create this fishing effort dataset for the U.S. West Coast. The dataset was generated using VMS points at fishing speeds to create fishing tracks. Tracks were joined to the BOEM aliquot grid (1.2x1.2 km) to create heat maps of fishing effort for various fisheries based on individual and combined declaration codes.,

2010-2017 Vessel Monitoring System (VMS) data were used from the NOAA Office of Law Enforcement to create this fishing effort dataset for the U.S. West Coast. The dataset was generated using VMS points at fishing speeds to create fishing tracks. Tracks were joined to the BOEM aliquot grid (1.2x1.2 km) to create heat maps of fishing effort for various fisheries based on individual and combined declaration codes.,

2010-2017 Vessel Monitoring System (VMS) data were used from the NOAA Office of Law Enforcement to create this fishing effort dataset for the U.S. West Coast. The dataset was generated using VMS points at fishing speeds to create fishing tracks. Tracks were joined to the BOEM aliquot grid (1.2x1.2 km) to create heat maps of fishing effort for various fisheries based on individual and combined declaration codes.,

2010-2017 Vessel Monitoring System (VMS) data were used from the NOAA Office of Law Enforcement to create this fishing effort dataset for the U.S. West Coast. The dataset was generated using VMS points at fishing speeds to create fishing tracks. Tracks were joined to the BOEM aliquot grid (1.2x1.2 km) to create heat maps of fishing effort for various fisheries based on individual and combined declaration codes.,

This layer is intended to represent the geographic extent of NOAA Fisheries’ U.S. West Coast Groundfish Bottom Trawl Survey. The U.S. West Coast Groundfish Bottom Trawl Survey started in 1998 and is led by NMFS Northwest Fisheries Science Center. This survey provides long-term time-series data for the management of West Coast groundfishes as well as coastwide environmental sampling for monitoring change within the California Current Ecosystem. The bottom trawl survey covers West Coast waters (55-1280 meters [30-700 fathoms]) twice annually using a trawl net and a random sampling design, stratified by depth and latitude. The survey collects fishery-independent data on abundance, distribution, and biology of most species included in the west coast groundfish management plan. Weight and measurements are collected from vertebrates and invertebrates alongside various biological samples. Samples collected include otoliths and other structures for aging, finclips for genetics, gonads for reproductive analysis, and stomach contents and tissue samples for diet/stable isotope analysis. Oceanographic sensors are affixed to the trawl net, collecting data such as temperature, salinity, and dissolved oxygen for each trawl at depth.

The Fisheries Research Survey team proposes to conduct the West Coast Groundfish Bottom Trawl Survey from May to October 2019. The goal of the survey is to ensure the sustainability of marine fisheries with a focus on ending overfishing. The groundfish fishery supports management for 90+ commercially fished stocks off Washington, Oregon, and California and is the primary source of fishery-independent data necessary for stock assessments of managed groundfish species inhabiting trawlable habitat along the upper continental slope and shelf. The survey provides data on abundance, spatial distributions, sex, length, maturity, weight, and age structure of groundfish in trawlable habitats. The survey also collects key environmental data (temperature, depth, dissolved oxygen, turbidity, in vivo fluorescence, irradiance, wind speed, location) in association with each tow for use in ecosystem based fisheries management. This data set contains information on date, time, vessel, trawl identification (i.e. unique number), trawl performance, location, depth, area swept, trawl duration, temperature, species, haul weight, average individual weight, sex, length, length method, fish age and age structure.

NOAA Fisheries and its partners conduct bottom-trawl surveys in 7 regions in the US (Northeast, Southeast, Gulf of Mexico, West Coast, Gulf of Alaska, Bering Sea, Aleutian Islands). These surveys are designed to collect information on the seasonal distribution, relative abundance, and biodiversity of fish and invertebrate species found on the US continental shelves. Over 900 species of fish and invertebrates have been identified in these surveys.

NOAA Fisheries and its partners conduct bottom-trawl surveys in 7 regions in the US (Northeast, Southeast, Gulf of Mexico, West Coast, Gulf of Alaska, Bering Sea, Aleutian Islands). These surveys are designed to collect information on the seasonal distribution, relative abundance, and biodiversity of fish and invertebrate species found on the US continental shelves. Over 800 species of fish and invertebrates have been identified in these surveys.

The GOA/AI Bottom Trawl Estimate database contains abundance estimates for the Alaska Biennial Bottom Trawl Surveys conducted in the Gulf of Alaska and the Aleutian Islands in alternate years. The estimates build upon raw and summary data available from the RACEBASE database and include calculated catch-per-unit-effort (cpue)s for principal species of groundfish and key invertebrates for each survey region. The cpues are averaged by survey strata, and then average cpues are multiplied by stratum areas which results in estimates of biomass and numerical abundance. Length and age data are combined with abundance to estimate the population at length and sex and population at age and sex.

This dataset contains tagging data for bottomfish from research fishing and intensive tagging efforts around the Main Hawaiian Islands from 2007-2005 and around Guam from 2011. The data include information on tagging/recapture of the bottomfish for 2007-2015 as well as any separate recapture information for 2015. Tagging/recapture information include the fisher, vessel, location of capture in latitude and longitude, location by island or around an island, the tag number, date tagged, fork length of fish, techniques used to limit mortality due to barotrauma, species of fish, depth caught, and whether it was a recapture. Recapture information for 2015 include whether the fish was a recapture, and if so, the fisher who recaptured it as well as the recapture date, location, and length. The data were collected on multiple contracts over many years, and therefore each field was not necessarily entered for every event. The recapture information dataset has not been extensively QC'd and should, particularly information on length and location of first capture, of the recaptured fish.