CRUISE RESULTS 



R/V ARGO MAINE 



Cruise AM 91-01 



Fisheries Ecosystems Assessment-MARMAP Survey 



CRUISE PERIOD 

 AND AREA 



The cruise period was from 19 

 July to 2 August, 1991. The area of 

 operations was the Northeast Shelf 

 Ecosystem from Cape Hatteras, North 

 Carolina to Nova Scotia (Figure 1). The 

 primary depth zone was from the 20- to 

 2,000-meter isobaths. 



OBJECTIVES 



This cruise was the first of the 

 resimied MARMAP cruises termed 

 Fisheries Ecosystem Assessment- 

 MARMAP Surveys, the objective of 

 which is a assess the impact of changing 

 biological and physical properties of the 

 NE Continental Shelf ecosystem which 

 influence the sustainable productivity of 

 the living marine resources. The July- 

 August survey was designed to measure 

 spatial and temporal changes in the 

 productivity of the waters of the NE 

 Shelf ecosystem, and to index the 

 changes in the ichthyoplankton and 

 zooplankton communities. Key 

 parameters measured were: water 

 column temperatures, salinities, 

 chlorophyll and nutrient concentrations; 

 light transmission, ichthyo- and 

 zooplankton composition, abundance 

 and distribution; underway near surface 

 chlorophyll concentration; and standard 

 weather observations. This cruise 

 initiated a reduced level of station 

 coverage compared to earlier MARMAP 

 surveys (1977-1986) from an average of 

 105 to 70 stations. An evaluation of the 



effectiveness of this strategy was one of 

 the cruise's objectives. The major 

 alteration to the 1977-1987 sampling 

 protocol included towed-body sampling 

 with the Continuous Plankton Recorder 

 (CPR) between station transects; as well 

 as along new transects. The key station 

 transects were located off the major 

 estuaries and across areas of particular 

 importance (e.g., Georges Bank and the 

 Gulf of Maine) and suriace chlorophyll 

 measurements along the entire track of 

 the cruise. 



Staff at the Nonheast Fisheries 

 Center Narragansett Laboratory will 

 work jointly with scientists at several 

 institutions in the analyses of the data as 

 follows: (a) chlorophyll, nutrient, and 

 light transmission-Bigelow Laboratory 

 for Ocean Sciences, Boothbay Harbor, 

 Maine; (b) water column temperature 

 and salinity-Northeast Fisheries Center, 

 Woods Hole, Massachusetts; 

 (c) phytoplankton and zooplankton- 

 Sorting Centers, Szczecin and Gdynia, 

 Poland; (d) ichthyoplankton-Northeast 

 Fisheries Center, Sandy Hook, New 

 Jersey; (e) meteorological data-National 

 Oceanic and Atmospheric 

 Administration, National Weather 

 Service, Washington, D.C. 



METHODS 



Plankton sampling gear consisted 

 of a 0.61-meter bongo frame fitted with 

 0.505-millimeter and 0.333-millimeter 

 mesh nets. A 45-kilogram ball was 

 attached beneath the frame to depress 

 the sampler, and a bathykymograph was 



