Smooth Bottom Net Trawl Fishing Gear Effect on - New England ...

NOAA/NMFS Unallied Science Project, Cooperative Agreement NA16FL2264 May 2005
<strong>Smooth</strong> <strong>Bottom</strong> <strong>Net</strong> <strong>Trawl</strong> <strong>Fishing</strong> <strong>Gear</strong> <strong>Effect</strong> on the Seabed:
Investigation of Temporal and Cumulative <strong>Effect</strong>s BKAM/CR
3.0 CHRONIC TRAWL STUDY RESULTS
3.1 Water Column Characteristics
Representative plots of water quality profiles and CTD cast logs for each of the three cruises in
August, October and November 2002 are provided in Appendix 3.1-A.
CTD casts at Mud Hole were taken from 9:38 to 11:22 on August 1, 2002, with the exception of
the cast at MH-3A (17:19). Casts at Little Tow were taken between 14:26 and 18:38 on August
1, 2002. Surface water temperatures at Mud Hole and Little Tow were around 20 degrees C. A
steep thermocline was present between about 10 and 60 ft, with bottom temperatures of
approximately 7 degrees C. Salinity profiles were fairly uniform at both sites, with surface (0 to
30 ft) salinities of approximately 31 to 31.5 ppt (parts per thousand) and slightly higher salinities
in deeper water of about 32 ppt. Turbidity was non-detectable (