Georges Bank predation study : report of the 1994-96 field seasons A report of the NOAA Coastal Ocean Program

The principal focus of the Georges Bank Predation Study is to quantify the joint effects of exploitation and predation on the abundance, production, and species composition of the Georges Bank fish community. In order to develop multispecies models of the synergistic effects of predation and exploitation on fish community dynamics, several complementary objectives must be completed, including two major activities: the construction of a relational database for historical food habits data to permit retrospective analyses, and the completion of field studies to quantify predation at critical phases in the early life history of key species (Atlantic cod, Gadus morhua, and haddock, Melanogrammus aeglefinus). Field season data and sample collections were designed to supplement the broad-scale (coarse) data available from the NEFSC bottom trawl survey time series with more specific, temporally appropriate, fine-scale data. A total of 9 process-oriented cruises were conducted on Gecrges Bank during 1994-96. Cruises were scheduled to coincide with the early larval (April-May), late larval (June), and early demersal (July-August) stages of cod and haddock development each year. Food habits data were collected from 38 species during the period. Over 12,000 stomachs were individually preserved for laboratory analysis; tissue samples from approximately 3,600 stomachs were collected for DNA analysis; and approximately 15,000 ichthyoplankton samples (with 1,500 individual measurements) were collected. This report describes the activities conducted during the 1994-96 field seasons and provides detailed summaries of the data and samples collected with preliminary qualitative analyses of data. by Frank Almeida, Michael Fogarty, Marvin Grosslein, Brian Kaminer, Jason Link, William Michaels, and Rodney Rountree. "May 1999." System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Includes bibliographical references. 1999 NMFS (National Marine Fisheries Service) NEFSC (Northeast Fisheries Science Center) Library Public Domain 1863