ALLDATAFORPUBALL28AUG12 and Lengths for AnalysisALL28AUG12 (effort, catch, and environmental data)

Has new position at South East Regional Office

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Has new position at South East Regional Office

Gulf Of Mexico

Methods Gear and set specifications The survey was modeled after methods developed by Carlson and Brusher (1999). A monofilament gillnet consisting of six different stretched-mesh size panels was used for sampling in all areas by all institutions. Stretched-mesh sizes ranged from 7.6 (3.0) to 14.0 cm (5.5) in steps of 1.3 cm (0.5). Each panel was 3.0 m (10 ft) deep and 30.5 m (100 ft) long. Panel specifics can be found in Baremore et al. (2012). The six panels were strung together and fished as a single gear (i.e., set). The survey was conducted monthly April October in coastal bays, estuaries, and around barrier islands (out to three nautical miles) from 2003 to 2011, covering more than 550 km of coastline (Fig. 1). Gillnet sets were chosen randomly and the gear was fished either perpendicular to shore or with the wind. Set soak time was defined from the time the gear entered the water to the time the gear was removed completely from the water. Haul back typically started 0.51.0 h after the gear first entered the water. After haul back, the gear was moved to a different location, beginning a new set. All gillnet sets were made during daylight hours (07:0018:00). For each set, mid-water temperature (C), salinity, and dissolved oxygen (mg l-1 ) were recorded. Average depth (m) was calculated using gear start and end points recorded from the vessels depth finder, and water clarity (depth of the photic zone, cm) was measured by secchi disc. At times, not all environmental parameters were recorded due to logistics. Not all institutions sampled in all years due to funding. The two longest running data sets were from the NOAA National Marine Fisheries Service Panama City Laboratory (St. Andrew Bay to Apalachicola Bay, FL 20032011) and University of Southern Mississippi Gulf Coast Research Laboratory (Mississippi Sound and sets made outside the Mississippi barrier islands 20032009). The remaining datasets were: the Florida Museum of Natural History at the University of Florida (Suwannee Sound to Waccasassa Bay, FL 20072011), the Dauphin Island Sea Laboratory (Mobile Bay and Alabama and sets around western Florida barrier islands 20072011), and the Florida State University Coastal and Marine Laboratory (St. George Sound to Anclote Key, FL 20082011). 1234 Environ Biol Fish (2015) 98:12331254