U.S. West Coast Bottom Trawl Surveys (2003 to 2008) of Groundfish Resources off Washington, Oregon, and California: Estimates of Distribution, Abundance, Length, and Age Composition

摘要

The primary objective of the Northwest Fisheries Science Centers (NWFSC) annual West Coast groundfish bottom trawl survey (WCGBTS) is to provide the fishery-independent data necessary to support the assessment of the status and trends of fish species inhabiting trawlable habitat along the upper continental slope (1841,280 m) and shelf (55183 m) of the U.S. West Coast. Coast-wide sampling cruises were undertaken by the NWFSC beginning in 1998 to establish an ongoing time series of groundfish catch, fishing effort, and individual fish measurement data (Turk et al. 2001, Builder Ramsey et al. 2002, Keller et al. 2005, 2006a, 2006b, 2007a, 2007b, 2008).