DFO Pacific Groundfish Synoptic Trawl Surveys - Hecate Strait

The Hecate Strait (HS) synoptic bottom trawl survey was first conducted in 2005, and has been repeated every second year since. The survey was not impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. This is a set of long-term and coordinated surveys that together cover the continental shelf and upper slope of most of the British Columbia coast. The objectives of these surveys are to provide fishery-independent abundance indices of all demersal fish species available to bottom trawling and to collect biological samples of selected species. The surveys follow a random depth-stratified design and the sampling units are 2 km by 2 km blocks.