30064 Data Set Published / External 28650 Turtle Excluder Device Data Project Completed In 1994, the National Marine Fisheries Service Northeast Fisheries Observer Program documented sea turtle bycatch in the Atlantic croaker (Micropogonias undulatus) and weakfish (Cynoscion regalis) trawl fishery off North Carolina. The fishery utilized a high opening bottom trawl locally known as a “flynet.” In 1998, the NMFS Southeast Fisheries Science Center Mississippi Laboratories initiated research to develop a Turtle Excluder Device (TED) for the flynet fishery. Over the next 10 years, numerous prototype designs were trialed to determine feasibility of use in the fishery. During the 2008 and 2009 fishing seasons a specialized TED, the Flexible Flatbar Flynet TED, developed specifically for the flynet fishery was tested for catch retention and bycatch reduction. Due to the highly variable catch rates in the fishery, a standard flynet was modified to utilize the “trouser trawl” comparative testing technique. The objectives of the study were to quantify the target and bycatch species catch loss associated with TED use in the Atlantic croaker targeted flynet fishery operating off North Carolina. In addition, usability testing was carried out to identify handling problems and specialized handling techniques required when using TEDs in this fishery. The study was carried out aboard a contracted commercial vessel operating along the North Carolina coast. Tow level data were collected and included; date, vessel identifier, TED position (port or starboard), target species, total catch, target catch, and bycatch. Start and end location, time, depth, and temperature were also collected. Data were used to determine TED efficiency with regard to target catch. To evaluate the feasibility of a Turtle Excluder Device for the flynet fishery. Theme Flynet Theme GOM Theme Gulf of Mexico Theme Mississippi Laboratories Theme TED Theme Trouser Trawl Theme Turtle Excluder Device Mississippi Laboratory Pascagoula MS Data Set Access Database, spreadsheets As Needed Table (digital) Not applicable Contract commercial fishing vessel Flynet with Turtle Excluder Device Data Steward 2008 Person Gearhart, Jeff jeff.gearhart@noaa.gov 3209 Frederic St. Pascagoula MS 39568 228-549-1764 228-769-8699 Distributor 2013 Organization Southeast Fisheries Science Center SEFSC https://ror.org/0396y0w87 75 Virginia Beach Drive Miami FL 33149 USA (305)361-5761 https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/about/southeast-fisheries-science-center About SEFSC Online Resource 8:00 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. EST Metadata Contact 2008 Person Gearhart, Jeff jeff.gearhart@noaa.gov 3209 Frederic St. Pascagoula MS 39568 228-549-1764 228-769-8699 Point of Contact 2013 2021 Person Weber, Charles J 3209 Frederic Street Pascagoula MS 39567-4112 228-549-1684 228-769-9200 Retired IT United Head Pascagoula -75.83333333333 -75 36.5 35.16666666667 North Carolina Range 2008 2009 Unclassified Some information contained within the data are confidential and protected under FOIA Exemption 4: Trade Secrets, Commercial or Financial Information, see 5 U.S.C. 552(b)(4). These data are released after aggregation, to protect confidentiality. Information contained in the data are protected under FOIA exemption which apply to Government information in accordance with 5 U.S.C. 552(b)(4): Trade Secrets, Commercial or Financial Information. NOAA NMFS does not approve, recommend, or endorse any proprietary product or proprietary material mentioned in this publication. No reference shall be made to NMFS, or to this publication furnished by NMFS, in any advertising or sales promotion which would indicate or imply that NMFS approves, recommends, or endorses any proprietary product or proprietary material mentioned herein or which has as its purpose any intent to cause directly or indirectly the advertised product to be used or purchased because of this NMFS publication. NMFS is not responsible for any uses of these datasets beyond those for which they were intended, and NMFS makes no claims regarding the accuracy of any data provided by agencies or individuals outside NMFS. Acknowledgement of NOAA NMFS would be appreciated in products derived or publications generated from this data. After collection, data is reviewed for accuracy and completeness by the principal investigator. Yes 0 Yes Yes Yes 30 days NCEI-MS 365 days Data resides on 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. Trawl catch is sorted to finfish taxa. Catch and length frequency data are recorded onto datasheets. Datasheets were checked in the field after sampling and data were checked after data entry. The principal investigators review the data for content to ensure the relevance/accuracy of data collected. Data prior to 2007 is in paper format and data from 2008 to present is in access database. gov.noaa.nmfs.inport:30064 Lisa Desfosse 2016-01-11T17:32:41 SysAdmin InPortAdmin 2026-03-04T19:17:18 2021-10-27 Southeast Fisheries Science Center SEFSC 75 Virginia Beach Drive Miami FL 33149 USA (305)361-5761 www.sefsc.noaa.gov 8:00 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. EST 1001 Public No No 2021-10-27 1 Year 2022-10-27