Fall 2025 Northeast Ecosystem Monitoring Surveys Completed

Dates and Location

The fall Ecosystem Monitoring Survey sailed in two legs from October 22–November 7, 2025, aboard the NOAA Ship Pisces, out of Norfolk, Virginia.

Survey Overview and Completion Rates

The fall Ecosystem Monitoring Survey was delayed by 4 days because of safety training and mechanical issues. We then encountered challenging weather conditions that impacted the cruise track. Despite these challenges, scientists were able to sample 77 out of 162 planned stations, completing 47 percent of planned research activities. They prioritized sampling in the Mid-Atlantic region, Southern New England, and the western Gulf of Maine. They dropped stations far offshore of Massachusetts and in Canadian waters to maximize fall survey coverage.

Map of Survey Coverage

Core Sampling

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Core sampling data from EcoMon Surveys help us understand changes in:

• Distribution and abundance of zooplankton and larval fish
• Water temperature
• Salinity
• Ocean Chemistry

Scientists conducted 88 bongo net tows during the fall survey to study the foundation of the marine food web—fish larvae, crab larvae, copepods, and small jellyfish. Scientists use the larval fish and egg samples to learn more about fish stock spawning and help estimate stock abundance.

The science team also collected physical oceanography data by deploying a conductivity, temperature, and depth instrument at 88 stations during the fall survey.

Ocean Chemistry

The science team collected water samples for carbon analysis at 19 of the 24 chemistry stations to support ongoing research on marine carbon cycling and ocean acidification. They also collected pteropod (planktonic snail) samples at stations where they observed them in nets. They will use them to study the effects of ocean carbonate chemistry on shell-building organisms at the base of the food web, which help sustain fisheries.

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Marine Mammal, Bird, and Sea Turtle Observations

Dedicated observers count and photograph marine mammals, turtles, and seabirds seen along the survey tracks. This helps us to better understand their migrations and how they find food and habitat on their journeys. 

Observers spent more than 70 hours documenting these sightings, covering approximately 680 nautical miles. The most frequently counted sea birds were Herring Gulls, Northern Fulmar, Great Shearwater, and Northern Gannet. The most abundant marine mammals counted were common and bottlenose dolphins.

Special Collections and Partners

The Ecosystem Monitoring Survey is collaborative. In addition to NOAA scientists, partners aboard the spring survey included scientists from three other institutions:

• Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
• University of Rhode Island
• University of Connecticut

During the fall survey, three optical instruments counted phytoplankton over 1,994 nautical miles. Scientists from the University of Rhode Island and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution deployed Imaging FlowCytobots. Similar to automated underwater microscopes, these capture high-resolution images of phytoplankton and measure the chlorophyll fluorescence and light scattering associated with each image. The data they collect helps scientists study changes in phytoplankton communities over time.

University of Rhode Island scientists, with NASA funding, deployed a flow cytometer to study phytoplankton smaller than those measured by the Imaging Flowcytobot. They also deployed a radiometer to observe how phytoplankton change the optical properties of seawater. This information will help improve the use of satellite-based ocean color measurements to study phytoplankton from space.

Scientists from the University of Connecticut collected water samples to study monomethylmercury, a neurotoxin that bioaccumulates in marine food webs, in phytoplankton.

The physical and chemical conditions that EcoMon measures help scientists understand:

• Ecosystem productivity
• Fish spawning
• Larval recruitment
• Species distribution

Survey Mission

The Northeast Fisheries Science Center’s Ecosystem Monitoring Cruise, or EcoMon, helps understand and predict changes in the Northeast shelf ecosystem throughout the year. These changes influence the productivity of fisheries. EcoMon’s comprehensive shelf-wide ecosystem data (hydrography, ocean chemistry, plankton) and analyses support everything from fisheries stock assessments to research on the North Atlantic right whale.

EcoMon maintains a record of ocean measurements going back more than 40 years. The survey typically collects data in:

• Mid-Atlantic Bight
• Southern New England
• Georges Bank
• Gulf of Maine

Its ocean measurements help understand and predict changes in the shelf ecosystem that affect fisheries productivity and management.

Data Collection and Use

You can view the Ecosystem Monitoring Survey’s long term plankton abundance and distribution data, conductivity, temperature, and depth data, and ocean chemistry data.