Stations

NEAMAP has two cruises a year, occurring in the spring and fall. Each cruise samples approximately 150 stations broken down into 15 regions ranging from Cape Hatteras, NC north to Cape Cod, MA.

NEAMAP samples near shore water to a depth of 60 feet and includes the sounds to 120 feet (see survey map). At each station the net is trawled along the bottom for 20 minutes, at a speed of 2.9-3.3 knots.

Work is completed during daylight hours and each cruise takes approximately 28-30 days to complete.

At each station, several standard variables are recorded. These include but are not limited to:

• Station identification parameters - date, station number, stratum, station sampling cell number.
• Tow parameters - beginning and ending tow location (as well as recordings of the continuous GPS data stream), vessel speed and direction, engine RPMs, duration of tow, water depth, tidal stage.
• Gear identification and operational parameters - net type code & net number, door type code & door numbers tow warp length, trawl door spread, wing spread, headline height & bottom contact of the footgear.
• Atmospheric and weather data - wind speed & direction, air temperature, relative humidity, barometric pressure, general weather state and sea state.
• Water Quality - water temperature, water depth, salinity, dissolved oxygen (profiles at 2m intervals), Photosynthetically active radiation.
• Invertebrate species - crabs, shrimps, hydroids, dead mans fingers, sponges, etc.
• Habitat - ghost crab pots, tires, wood, rocks, etc.