454 
Fishery Bulletin 108(4) 
Table t 
Summary of the surveys effort and Atlantic sturgeon ( Acipenser oxyrinchus ) captures for the New York bottom trawl survey 
(NYBTS), New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) finfish survey, National Marine Fisheries Service 
(NMFS) bottom trawl survey, Maine Department of Marine Resources and New Hampshire Fish and Game (ME-NH) inshore 
trawl survey, and Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries (MADMF) bottom trawl survey. Seasons are defined as winter (21 
Dec-20 Mar), spring (21 Mar-20 Jun), summer (21 Jun-20 Sep), and fall (21 Sep-20 Dec). 
Survey 
Time period 
Total number of 
trawls completed 
Total number of 
Atlantic sturgeon captured 
Catch per unit of effort 
NYBTS 
2005-07 
512 
149 
0.291 
fall 
132 
46 
0.348 
winter 
59 
4 
0.068 
spring 
219 
73 
0.333 
summer 
102 
26 
0.255 
NJDEP 
1988-2007 
3617 
261 
0.072 
fall 
769 
74 
0.096 
winter 
599 
74 
0.124 
spring 
1439 
113 
0.079 
summer 
810 
0 
0.000 
NMFS 
1973-2007 
27,420 
107 
0.004 
fall 
11,919 
26 
0.002 
winter 
2563 
12 
0.005 
spring 
11,395 
68 
0.006 
summer 
1543 
1 
0.001 
ME-NH 
2000-06 
1601 
38 
0.024 
fall 
773 
31 
0.040 
spring 
828 
7 
0.008 
MADMF 
1978-2007 
5563 
1 
>0.001 
spring 
2874 
1 
>0.001 
fall 
2689 
0 
>0.001 
Table 2 
Mean, standard deviation, and range of total length (cm) 
of Atlantic sturgeon ( Acipenser oxyrinchus ) captured in 
the New York bottom trawl survey (NYBTS), New Jersey 
Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) fin- 
fish survey. National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) 
bottom trawl survey, Maine Department of Marine 
Resources and New Hampshire Fish and Game (ME- 
NH) inshore trawl survey, and Massachusetts Division of 
Marine Fisheries (MADMF) bottom trawl survey. Length 
information includes all recorded lengths over the dura- 
tion of the entire period of the above surveys. 
Mean total 
length ±standard 
Survey deviation (cm) Range (cm) 
NYBTS 
112.01 ±27.75 
72-215 
NJDEP 
103.89 ±32.13 
52-248 
NMFS 
113.87 ±40.18 
51-269 
ME-NH 
115.4 ±19.39 
76-152 
MADMF 
78 ±0 
— 
sturgeon were captured during all seasons but were most 
abundant during the spring, with an average CPUE of 
0.006 fish/tow, followed by winter (0.005 fish/tow), fall 
(0.002 fish/tow), and summer (0.001 fish/tow) (Table 1). 
In the spring, 70.59% of Atlantic sturgeon were cap- 
tured in Virginia (VA) and NC waters and 23.53% were 
captured in NY and NJ. One Atlantic sturgeon was 
captured south of Cape Hatteras and one was captured 
offshore of northern MA. During winter months cap- 
tures were evenly distributed from NJ to NC. A total 
of 42.30% (11 fish) of fall captures occurred off Long 
Island, NY, whereas 30.76% (8 fish) occurred in the 
mouth of Delaware Bay, Delaware (DE). In addition 
three fish were captured in NJ, one fish south of Cape 
Hatteras, and one fish near Cape Cod, MA. Only one 
Atlantic sturgeon was captured during this survey in 
the summer months in NY waters off of Long Island. 
NJDEP finfish survey 
A total of 261 Atlantic sturgeon were captured within 
3617 bottom trawls from 1988 through 2007 (Table 1) at 
all depths sampled (Fig. 3B). Tow distribution ranged 
