Identification of Juvenile Groundfish Habitat within Nearshore Waters of the Gulf of Maine

National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) Cooperative Research Partners Initiative, $251,607, May 1, 2004, to Dec. 1, 2005.

Principal Investigators
Phil Yund, Ph.D., Director
Marine Science Education and Research Center
University of New England
Biddeford, ME		   Jonathan H. Grabowski, Ph.D.
Gulf of Maine Research Institute
Portland, ME

Problem

Cod stocks are currently depressed throughout the Gulf of Maine, and more information on cod population dynamics is needed in order to calculate appropriate harvesting levels. Juvenile habitat usage, as well as growth and mortality rates for juveniles, is considered to be particularly important. Although commercial fishing operations tend to yield much useful information on adult cod distributions and densities, juvenile fish slip through commercial nets and are not sampled. Hence little information on habitat usage by juvenile cod is available.

Approach

This project will assess where juvenile cod (and other ground fish species) live and will attempt to evaluate the “ecological value” of habitats by estimating predation and growth rates in different habitat types. A combination of small-mesh trawls and fish traps will be used to sample three different habitat types at different depths, in two different regions of the Gulf of Maine, in three different seasons of the year. Otolith (ear bone) analyses will be used to measure growth rates, and the stomach contents of larger predatory fish will be used to estimate mortality rates.
    
Apply Online
Request Information
     

Back to Top

 
» Advanced Search