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Fishery Bulletin 115(4) 
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78°W 76°W 74°-W 72°W 70°W 
Figure 1 
Map of the northeast U.S. continental shelf showing 5 wind energy areas 
(WEAs) off Virginia, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, and Massachu¬ 
setts where sampling of fish and macro-invertebrates was conducted in 
the spring of 2014. The Rhode Island-Massachusetts and Massachusetts 
WEAs were combined because of their close proximity to one another. Col¬ 
lections were made with a beam trawl within lease blocks of each WEA 
(solid black lines), and collections made with a bottom trawl were selected 
from inside a 20-km buffer around each WEA (dashed black lines) on the 
basis of data from surveys conducted by the Northeast Fisheries Science 
Center (NEFSC) and Northeast Monitoring and Assessment Program 
(NEAMAP). The 30-m and 200-m isobaths also are shown (dotted black 
lines). 
Lindeboom et al., 2015). These effects all have the po¬ 
tential to modify community structure, including chang¬ 
es in species composition, diversity, and productivity 
(Bergstrom et al., 2014; Lindeboom et al., 2015). 
The reviews highlight the need for before, during, 
and after construction monitoring to examine ecosys¬ 
tem level effects and the need to continue to track ef¬ 
fects over the long term (Lindeboom et al., 2011; Lin- 
denboom et al., 2015). Recommendations also include 
the use of multiple gear types to examine the entire 
ecosystem (Wilson et al., 2010), the examination of 
population-level effects (Bergstrom et al., 2014; Linde¬ 
boom et al., 2015), and the implementation of sampling 
across large spatial scales (Dai et al., 2015; Lindeboom 
et al., 2015). 
Annual trawl surveys of the northeast U.S. shelf 
by the Northeast Fisheries Science Center (NEFSC), 
with the use of standardized bottom trawl gear (ICES 2 ; 
2 ICES (International Council for the Exploration of the 
Sea). 2005. Report of the study group on survey trawl 
standardisation (SGSTS), 16-18 April 2005, Rome, Ita- 
Politis et al. 3 ) designed to catch ju¬ 
venile and adult demersal and semi- 
pelagic species, provide broad-scale 
and long-term distribution and abun¬ 
dance patterns of numerous fish and 
macro-invertebrates (Gabriel, 1992; 
Lucey and Nye, 2010). However, as¬ 
sessments of smaller noncommercial 
organisms and prerecruitment stages 
of fish and macro-invertebrates with 
the use of smaller research gear, 
which have smaller mesh sizes for 
retaining smaller (younger) juve¬ 
niles, have been conducted only on 
limited spatial and temporal scales 
(Steves et al., 1999; Steves and Cow- 
en, 2000; Sullivan et al., 2000; Diaz 
et al., 2003). The objective for our 
study was to examine the fish and 
macro-invertebrate assemblages in 
the vicinity of BOEM WEAs on the 
northeast U.S. shelf by comparing the 
composition of collections made with 
small-mesh gear and the standard¬ 
ized bottom trawl gear that are rou¬ 
tinely used in the 2 long-term annual 
fish and macro-invertebrate bottom 
trawl surveys conducted under the 
NEFSC (Azarovitz, 1981) and North¬ 
east Area Monitoring and Assessment 
Program (NEAMAP) (Bonzek et al. 4 ). 
Specifically, we examined the propor¬ 
tion of a taxon in catch per station 
and average weight of individuals 
collected with 2 types of trawl gear: 
a 2-m beam trawl and a 4-seam, 
3-bridle survey trawl (Bonzek et al. 4 ; 
Politis et al. 3 ). We also describe the 
relationships between the fish and 
macro-invertebrate assemblages and 
the explanatory environmental variables. 
Materials and methods 
Collection of data 
Sampling was conducted in the vicinity of 5 WEAs on 
the northeast U.S. shelf during the spring of 2014 (Fig. 
1). Collections were made at night with a 2-m beam 
ly. ICES CM 2005/B:02, 67 p, [Available from website.] 
3 Politis, P. J., J. K. Galbraith, P. Kostovick, and R. W. 
Brown. 2014. Northeast Fisheries Science Center bot¬ 
tom trawl survey protocols for the NOAA Ship Henry B. Bi¬ 
gelow. Northeast Fish. Sci. Cent. Ref. Doc, 14-06, 138 p. 
[Available from website.] 
4 Bonzek, C. F., J. Gartland, D. J. Gauthier, and R. J. La- 
tour. 2012. Data collection and analysis in support of sin¬ 
gle and multispecies stock assessments in the Mid-Atlantic: 
Northeast Area Monitoring and Assessment Program Near 
Shore Trawl Survey (NEAMAP), 280 p. [Available from 
website.] 
