Ecosystem Studies of Atlantic Cod Spawning Aggregations in Relation to Fisheries Interactions Using Novel Active and Passive Acoustic Approaches

Through effective collaboration among state, academic, federal, and NGO scientists, and commercial fishermen, this study successfully utilized multiple acoustic technologies to identify the spatial and temporal distribution of cod spawning activity during three consecutive winter spawning seasons from October 2013 through March 2016 in Massachusetts Bay. Based on a combined synthesis of the acoustic telemetry and passive acoustic monitoring data, from both fixed station and mobile autonomous glider deployments, the temporal distribution of cod spawning activity was shown to have some inter-annual variability, but based on the results from all three years, spawning activity primarily occurred during early November through January with a peak in mid-December. The spatial distribution of spawning activity was generally consistent among years and concentrated in areas deeper than 50 meters. Our scale of observation annually increased and permitted documentation of multiple hotspots of spawning activity, including just west of the northwest corner of Stellwagen Bank as the primary focal point of spawning activity, with other lesser focal points inside the WCCZ and just east of the Neptune LNG terminal. 2016 Grant no. NA14NMF4270027 NMFS (National Marine Fisheries Service) Submitted https://doi.org/10.25923/j7cn-tj14 Public Domain 1861