The Trawl Surveys Team conducts resource assessment surveys in the Gulf of Mexico using fish and shrimp trawls in depths of 5 to 60 fathoms. There are approximately 230 species that are encountered during a survey, about 170 finfish and 60 invertebrate species. Plankton Team Fish eggs and larvae in the Gulf of Mexico are the specialty of the PlanktonTeam. The larval specimens and data we gather are used by taxonomists, fishery biologists and resource managers to complement data on the adult stage.
Research also includes acoustic surveys to map bottom bathymetry to locate essential reef habitat.
Fish are sampled using fish traps and video cameras at reefs located in water up to 360 feet deep. Longlines are used to sample snapper and grouper found in deeper water. Abundance data and the age and fecundity information are used to determine the status of reef fish stocks in the Gulf of Mexico and theCaribbean Sea. The shark team was established in 1995 to conduct assessments of the distribution and relative abundance of coastal sharks of the Gulf of Mexico and the Western North Atlantic Ocean. The shark team has reported captures of 23 shark species since the project began including bull, big-eye, six gill, and tiger sharks.