Longline Survey Data

The Southeast Fisheries Science Center Mississippi Laboratories conducts standardized fisheries independent resource surveys in the Gulf of Mexico, South Atlantic, and U.S. Caribbean to provide abundance and distribution information to support regional and international stock assessments. Various survey sampling gear are used including bottom and pelagic trawls, bottom and pelagic longlines, plankton neuston and bongo nets, and reef fish traps and video camera arrays. The mission of the longline survey is to monitor the variability of shark and red snapper populations of the Atlantic coast and the Gulf of Mexico. In addition to the collection of distribution and abundance data, longline surveys collect morphological measurements and biological samples to facilitate life history studies. Coastal teleosts and sharks are also tagged on these surveys to assess movement patterns and environmental data are collected including Conductivity, Temperature, Depth (CTD) casts to profile water column temperature, conductivity (salinity), light transmissivity, dissolved oxygen (DO) concentrations and fluorometry. Bottom longline surveys focus on the sampling of the U.S. Atlantic and northern Gulf of Mexico for data concerning the distribution and abundance of shark and red snapper populations to aid in stock assessments. Pelagic longline surveys were conducted as a pilot study to evaluate the feasibility of using surface longline fishing gear to conduct a survey for pelagic fish. The primary purpose of this effort was to assess the distribution and abundance of pelagic fish and associated fauna.

To monitor the variability of shark and red snapper populations of the Atlantic coast and the Gulf of Mexico.

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As specimens are collected, total number of individual fish by species and lengths are taken and recorded into the shipboard data collections system. At the end of each survey data are reviewed for accuracy/relevance by chief scientists. Specimens that cannot be identified during the survey are identified in the laboratory.