September 17, 2024 — Our ecosystem monitoring cruises help researchers understand and predict changes in the Northeast shelf ecosystem and its fisheries throughout the year. Our core sampling provides data that help us understand ocean acidification as well as changes in:
- Distribution and abundance of zooplankton and larval fish
- Temperature
- Salinity
Researchers also record observations of seabirds, marine mammals, and sea turtles.
We sampled 111 of 162 planned stations from August 12 to 23 aboard the NOAA Ship Henry B. Bigelow. Sailing was delayed from the originally scheduled departure on August 9 so the vessel could replace an essential crew member on short notice. We completed 68.5 percent of our planned research activities. We dropped stations from New Jersey to North Carolina owing to delayed sailing, and focused on stations in the Gulf of Maine, Georges Bank, and Southern New England.