Distribution, biomass, and demography of coastal pelagic fishes in the California Current Ecosystem during summer 2015 based on acoustic-trawl sampling

This report provides: 1) a detailed description of the acoustic-trawl method (ATM) used by NOAA’s Southwest Fisheries Science Center (SWFSC) to estimate the population sizes of the dominant species of coastal pelagic species (CPS; i.e., Northern Anchovy Engraulis mordax, Pacific Sardine Sardinops sagax, Pacific Mackerel Scomber japonicus, Jack Mackerel Trachurus symmetricus, and Pacific Herring Clupea pallasii) in the California Current Ecosystem (CCE) off the west coast of North America; and 2) estimates of the biomasses, distributions, and demographies of those CPS in the survey area between 20 June and 10 September 2015.