Industry Based Monkfish Survey

Monkfish industry leaders expressed concerns that the NEFSC bottom trawl surveys did not sample in all monkfish habitats; particularly the deeper water outside the bounds of the survey strata. Industry also had concerns about the survey trawl capture efficiency for monkfish. The NEFSC, determined to investigate these assertions, developed an industry based survey that would cover a broader area of the northeast shelf and break utilizing commercial gear specifically designed to catch monkfish. In 2009, the NEFSC bottom trawl surveys transitioned to a new vessel with the ability to sample in deeper water. At this time the survey trawl was replaced with a more advanced trawl. The combination of greater coverage and increased monkfish capture efficiency on the new survey indicated that a dedicated monkfish survey was no longer necessary. The program was suspended after the 2009 survey.

The primary objective of this study is to obtain an area-swept abundance estimate of monkfish using commercial fishing gear on commercial vessels. Secondary objectives include producing estimates that can be compared with those obtained by the NEFSC’s new survey vessel and collecting data that will increase our knowledge of the biology of this species. Surveys were completed in 2001, 2004, and 2009.

Available to qualified researchers.

Please contact Point of Contact via email.

NEFSC Data Access Procedure:

1. Formal request in writing usually to the data owner/contact or Center Director;

2. Requester is contacted by data owner to review and verify the request content and details for data delivery options.

3. If data is confidential then owner will determine if the data may be released to the requester;

4. If data can be released, the data is downloaded and packaged for delivery electronically; or the requester may be directed to where the data is available online.

User must read and fully comprehend the metadata prior to use. Applications or inferences derived from the data should be carefully considered for accuracy.

NEFSC Data Access Constraint:

If data is stored on an internal NEFSC network, the requester may not have direct access to query the data unless they are also authorized for network access.

Acknowledgement of NOAA/NMFS/NEFSC, as the source from which these data were obtained in any publications and/or other representations of these, data is suggested.

Oracle database on Centralized Database Management System

For 2004 & 2009, data validation during data collection using FSCS 1.6, Data auditing post-survey by established auditing routines, Data validation during database load.

Data will be archived once a solution for archiving relational data sets is defined

Archival of source data preserving unaltered collected data, Scheduled backups, Remote storage backups, Password protection

For 2001, cruise data was collected on paper.

For 2004 and 2009, vessel sensor data were collected electronically using SCS. Catch and biological data were collected electronically using FSCS 1.6. At the completion of the cruise, a database copy was inserted into the shoreside database.