Southeast Fisheries-Independent Survey (SEFIS) NOAA ship PISCES cruise number PC-21-03 from 6 -16 July 2021 and 17-31 July 2021

The NOAA Ship Pisces departed from Morehead City, NC, on 6 July 2021 for a Southeast Fishery-Independent Survey (SEFIS) research cruise in continental shelf and shelf-break waters off North and South Carolina. SEFIS was created by the National Marine Fisheries Service in 2010 and operates out of the NOAA-Beaufort Laboratory. This survey was created to conduct applied fishery-independent sampling and related research focusing on the assessment of spatial variability in distribution and abundance of red snapper and other reef species within the snapper-grouper complex, via data collected from fish traps, video cameras, and acoustics. Leg 1 was scheduled to occur from 4-16 July, 2021, and leg 2 was scheduled to occur from 18-31 July, 2021, but due to personnel issues, cruise dates changed to 6-16 July 2021 for leg 1 and 17-31 July 2021 for leg 2 (so only 1 day at-sea was lost in total). During this survey, chevron trap catches and associated underwater video recordings were collected from hardbottom habitats from Cape Hatteras, North Carolina to approximately Georgetown, SC. A total of 394 stations were sampled with camera-trap arrays over 26 sea days, at depths ranging from 18 to 109 m, along with 69 CTD casts.

Cruse PC-21-03 OBJECTIVES

1. Fishery-independent sampling of randomly selected stations in North and South Carolina. Baited chevron traps, with two mounted high-definition video cameras were utilized for (a) hardbottom reef fish community assessments, (b) collection of reef fish for biological samples (i.e., otoliths and gonads), and (c) comparative gear sampling (cameras versus traps).

2. Use video cameras on chevron traps to address trap selectivity issues, locate and describe hardbottom habitats, and provide an additional index of abundance for stock assessments.

3. Use a conductivity, temperature, depth (CTD) instrument package to collect environmental data (temperature, salinity, dissolved oxygen, turbidity) at camera-trap sampling locations

Southeast Fisheries-Independent Survey (SEFIS) NOAA ship PISCES cruise number PC-21-03 from 6 -16 July 2021 and 17-31 July 2021

Personal Author(s) : Bacheler, Nathan;Schobernd, Christina;

Corporate Authors(s) : Southeast Fisheries Science Center (U.S.);United States. National Marine Fisheries Service.;

Published Date : 2021

Series : PC-21-03

DOI : https://doi.org/10.25923/fqdz-wh87