Data Collection and Analysis in Support of Single and Multispecies Stock Assessments in the Mid-Atlantic: Northeast Area Monitoring and Assessment Program (NEAMAP) Near Shore Trawl Program, 2010-2012.

摘要

This Environmental Assessment (EA) describes, and evaluates the impacts of, the proposed research activities for 2010, 2011, and 2012 for a coastal ocean bottom-trawling program in the Mid-Atlantic and Southern New England waters of the United States, the Northeast Area Monitoring and Assessment Program (NEAMAP) Near Shore Trawl Survey. The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) administers NEAMAP, and the Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS) executes the field sampling, laboratory processing, and data analysis components of this survey. The proposed work for the 2010-2012 period will follow the successful completion by VIMS of the survey's first two-and-a-half years of sampling (i.e., fall 2007 cruise, and spring and fall cruises in 2008 & 2009). Designed to improve the quality of resource and habitat assessment and management, as well as to complement existing trawl surveys, the proposed study is in the process of establishing a coordinated, long-term collection and analysis of fisheries-independent data on the trawl-caught living marine resources of the Mid-Atlantic and Southern New England regions.