METHODS 



Data Col lections 



From 1963 to 1967, standard autumn NEFC bottom trawl surveys were 

 conducted covering the Atlantic continental shelf from western Nova Scotia to 

 just north of Hudson Canyon in depths of 28-365 meters (15-200 fathoms). In 

 1967 the range of the survey was expanded southward to Cape Hatteras, North 

 Carolina. In 1968 a time series of spring surveys in the Middle Atlantic area 

 was initiated and in autumn of 1972 the surveys were expanded inshore to 

 include waters from the coastline out to the 28 m contour. The first inshore 

 survey covered from Montauk Point, New York, to Charleston, South Carolina. 

 Semiannual inshore surveys have been conducted in conjunction with the 

 offshore surveys between Cape Hatteras and Cape Cod since 1972. 



One objective of our survey effort was to obtain a statistically valid 

 population sample that would provide reliable estimates of sampling error 

 variance. A strati fied-random sampling design was chosen for the surveys to 

 provide a fairly uniform distribution of stations throughout all the possible 

 ecological zones within the survey area. 



Depth was used as the primary boundary criterion because of its known 

 relationship to finfish distribution. Figures 1 and 2 depict inshore and 

 offshore strata from Cape Hatteras to Cape Cod used in this study. The entire 

 study area from Cape Hatteras to Cape Cod was stratified with the major 

 stratum boundaries determined by seven depth limits: <9, 9-19, 20-28, 29-55, 

 56-110, 111-185, and 186-365 m. 



Stations were selected randomly within each sampling stratum. Larger 

 strata were divided into areas equivalent to 5 minutes (') latitude by 10' 

 longitude. Each of these rectangles is considered a homogenous sampling unit 



