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.,

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.

Through key regional collaborations with the Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission, Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, Alaska Fisheries Science Center, and the fishing industry, the Marine Habitat Ecology Team at the NWFSC has been able to pursue a wide-ranging array of conservation engineering projects relevant to reducing bycatch in the west coast groundfish and ocean shrimp trawl fisheries. Examples of types of research projects pursued during any given year include: 1) Reducing Chinook salmon, eulachon, rockfish, and Pacific halibut bycatch in midwater and bottom trawl fisheries using Bycatch Reduction Devices (BRDs), 2) Examining selectivity characteristics of codends that differ in mesh size and configuration in bottom trawl fisheries, and 3) Testing other novel bycatch engineering modifications to mobile and fixed gears. Much of our current work has been in response to the fishing industries concerns over catches of overfished and rebuilding rockfishes and Pacific halibut allocated in the Pacific coast Groundfish Trawl Rationalization Catch Share Program. The trawl rationalization program, starting in January 2011, established formal Annual Catch Limits (ACLs) and individual catch share quotas. In addition to ACLs, fishing opportunities may also be limited by hard caps or IBQs for non-groundfish species (e.g., Chinook salmon, and Pacific halibut). Bycatch of overfished and prohibited species in the west coast groundfish trawl fishery has the potential to constrain the fishery such that a substantial portion of available harvest may be left in the ocean. Temperature and light radiance.

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.