Cullen and Stevens: Underwater video recordings of Centropristis striata in waters off Maryland 
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Figure 1 
Map of the sampling region depicting the locations of 6 sites (numbered 
1-6) off the coast of Maryland, where underwater video of black sea bass 
( Centropristis striata) was collected with a fish trap and camera system 
from 14 June to 4 August 2011. Overlapping black circles indicate the posi- 
tions of multiple deployments of the fish trap and camera system per site. 
The inset shows the location of the sampling region off Maryland along the 
U.S. Atlantic coast. 
sea bass are primarily targeted 
by recreational hook-and-line and 
commercial trap fisheries, and bot- 
tom trawls are the chief gear used 
to harvest fish offshore (Shepherd 
and Terceiro, 1994). Annual spring 
bottom trawl surveys conducted 
by the National Marine Fisheries 
Service are the primary source of 
fishery independent data on abun- 
dance of black sea bass (NEFSC 1 ). 
The trawl gears used during these 
surveys generally perform better 
on softer sediments than on hard 
bottom habitats occupied season- 
ally by black sea bass (NEFSC 1 ; 
Ross et al., 2016). Population esti- 
mates are based on survey indices, 
as well as landings from commer- 
cial trap and recreational hook- 
and-line fisheries. However, the 
effectiveness of traps and other 
gears to adequately sample black 
sea bass is poorly understood. The 
lack of data on abundance of black 
sea bass in habitats that cannot be 
trawled effectively is a key uncer- 
tainty in assessment and manage- 
ment (NEFSC 1 ; Ross et al., 2016). 
Therefore, fishery-independent 
data collected for black sea bass 
on hard bottom habitats with al- 
ternative sampling gears (e.g., vid- 
eo, traps) may provide important 
information for improving both 
stock assessments and manage- 
ment (NEFSC 1 ). 
Underwater videos, including 
those that involve remote video 
camera systems, have been used to 
assess the abundance of reef fish 
(Ellis and DeMartini, 1995; Har- 
vey and Shortis, 1996; Burge et 
al., 2012; Lowry et al., 2012). Remote camera systems 
typically consist of 1 (single video) or 2 (stereo video) 
analog or digital video cameras in a waterproof hous- 
ing fixed to a metal frame in a manner that allows a 
vertical or horizontal field-of-view (Harvey and Shortis, 
1996; Willis and Babcock, 2000; Watson et al., 2005; 
Cappo et al., 2007; Harvey et al., 2007). We constructed 
and deployed a remote camera system with a fish trap 
as a base to collect video recordings of black sea bass 
in situ, to identify important natural bottom habitats, 
and to determine whether or not male fish with nuchal 
humps could be distinguished from other life stages. 
Our camera system included a fish trap as a base be- 
cause a fish trap was easy to deploy and haul from 
depth and was simple to modify with a metal frame 
for attaching multiple cameras. Additionally, it allowed 
us to collect other information including recordings of 
behavioral responses of black sea bass to traps (e.g., 
entries, escapes) which could be used for further anal- 
ysis (see Cullen and Stevens, 2017). The underwater 
video collected with the camera system was used to ad- 
dress the following objectives: 1) to observe and count 
black sea bass on natural hard bottom habitats and 2) 
to make observations of behavior of black sea bass on 
natural hard bottom habitats. 
Materials and methods 
Study area and sampling with video system 
The study was conducted in waters off the coast of 
Maryland (Fig. 1). Sampling occurred on 10 days, dur- 
ing the period from 14 June to 4 August 2011. With- 
