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Chesapeake Bay Multispecies
Monitoring and Assessment Program
ChesMMAP

ChesMMAP Trawl Survey

ChesMMAP Trawl Survey
Introduction
Methods
Data & Technology
Data Summaries
Trawl Schedule
Trawl Photos

Introduction

This survey was originally proposed as a Bay-wide general monitoring survey using a large mesh bottom trawl to capture adult fish of a variety of species.  Taking subsamples of the catch for age determination would allow us to calculate abundance indices by age and provide population age structure data.  Taking subsamples for gut contents analysis would add the predator-prey relationships necessary for multi-species assessment models.  Funding was obtained for four cruises during calendar year 2002. 

Simultaneously with the development of this survey however, VIMS developed the Fisheries Ecosystem Modeling and Assessment Program under a three year grant from the Virginia Environmental Endowment to develop multispecies and ecosystem fishery management models for Virginia.  Among the parameters that such models require are exactly the kinds of data that surveys such as this provide.  With the hand-in-glove nature of these two projects, they merged their purposes and pooled some of their resources. To satisfy the additional parameter requirements of models such as Ecopath with Ecosim we have added a number of technology components to the original survey design.

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