Cuban/Mexico Collaborative Bottom Longline Survey

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. Bottom longline gear was set at locations in Mexican and Cuban waters. The objective of the study was to assess the distribution and abundance of coastal and pelagic sharks. Ancillary objectives included collecting biological and environmental data and tagging.

To assess the distribution and abundance of coastal and pelagic sharks.

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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.

Data resides in the laboratories’ centralized database (Oracle). Security patches are applied to the database and host environment immediately after their release. In addition, Security benchmarks are applied to the database and host environment. Data residing in the centralized database (Oracle) is backed up nightly. Backup sets are placed on the laboratories’ Networked Attached Storage (NAS) environment. Security patches/updates are immediately applied to the host environment. Data is stripped/mirrored using RAID 50 technology to protect data from disk failure. Nightly backups are preformed and files are written to magnetic tape and stored in an onsite / offsite location.

Catch data (species, length, weight, sex) are collected on paper and are then entered into the database. Similarly, longline set locations and environmental data were collected on paper and then manually entered into database. All data were thoroughly scrutinized by watch leaders at sea and then again checked for accuracy at the end of each survey. Once considered complete and accurate, data were transferred to the custodian.