Assessment of the multi-function trawl net system for acoustic-trawl surveys of coastal pelagic species in the California Current ecosystem for the integrated West Coast pelagics survey

The NOAA Southwest Fisheries Science Center (SWFSC) conducts Coastal Pelagic Species (CPS) surveys (aka California Current Ecosystem Surveys) to collect data used to inform management of federally-managed fisheries. CPS surveys using the acoustic-trawl method (ATM) have been conducted since 2006 and data from these surveys are used in CPS stock assessments, with a different subset of data years used for each stock based on data and review history. These CPS surveys have almost always taken place during the summer and sometimes during the spring; spring CPS surveys have not happened since 2021. The survey data is used to estimate species-specific biomasses, age compositions, and weight-at-age data used in stock assessments. In 2025, the SWFSC integrated their summer CPS survey with the Northwest Fisheries Science Center's Joint U.S.-Canada Integrated Ecosystem and Pacific Hake Survey, since both surveys used the ATM along the U.S. West Coast. The resulting Integrated West Coast Pelagics Survey, commonly referred to as the "Integrated Survey", completed its inaugural survey during summer 2025.