NOAA Protocols for Groundfish Bottom Trawl Surveys

Conrad Lautenbacher memo, to “review current protocols and directives regarding trawl survey operation, determine what changes are needed and publish a new protocol”. The objective of this effort was “to ensure that all aspects of preparation for trawl surveys and trawl survey procedures are consistent and in keeping with the highest quality standards to provide for survey data accuracy and consistency from one survey to the next”. For greater focus in the workshop, the definition of “trawl surveys” was narrowed to exclude surveys using towed sampling devices with rigid-frames, such as clam or scallop dredges, surveys not producing measures of catch per unit of effort as a product, such as the trawling associated with fishery-acoustic surveys and surveys not conducted with bottom trawls on groundfish. The focus was further narrowed to exclude catch sampling to allow the workshop sufficient time to adequately address issues influencing the trawling process itself.