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Fishery Bulletin 93(3). 1995 



all cruises of eight hours or more were broken into 

 separate four-hour blocks in an attempt to standard- 

 ize temporal effort. 



Cruises aboard the 12-m research vessel ran four 

 fixed tracks in Cape Cod Bay between January and 

 May each year. The tracks ranged from six to nine 

 nautical miles in length and were approximately four 

 nautical miles apart. These cruises searched specifi- 

 cally for North Atlantic right whales, Eubalaena 

 glacialis; however, all marine mammal sightings 

 were recorded. Owing to frequent unfavorable 

 weather, the tracks were not surveyed equally; ef- 

 fort was concentrated mainly in the more sheltered 

 eastern portion of the Bay. Cruises aboard the 14-m 

 ketch occurred throughout the year and ran either 



four fixed tracks on Stellwagen Bank or directed 

 searches in areas where large concentrations of 

 whales had been recently reported or were known to 

 have occurred in the past. The fixed tracks covered 

 the southern portion of Stellwagen Bank, although 

 two of the tracks extended northward to include the 

 northwest corner of the Bank. The tracks on the 

 southern portion of the Bank ranged from six to nine 

 nautical miles in length, all tracks being approxi- 

 mately three nautical miles apart from one another. 

 Again, all cetacean sightings were noted, although 

 the majority of these cruises were directed prima- 

 rily toward humpback whales. The remaining non- 

 whalewatch cruises were nonrandom, searching ar- 

 eas where large numbers of whales had been recently 



