Collaborative Pre-Recruit Survey (transect)

This layer is intended to represent the geographic extent of NOAA Fisheries’ Pre-Recruit Survey transects. The collaborative Pre-Recruit Survey started in 2011 and is led by NMFS Northwest Fisheries Science Center. This survey includes researchers from NOAA’s Northwest Fisheries Science Center, Oregon State University, University of Oregon, and the University of California, Santa Cruz. This consistent survey has generated significant information on within- and between-year variability in the California Current Marine Ecosystem and has yielded valuable insights into the food web off our coast. Parameters and ecological processes quantified during this effort are used in forecasts involving species, assemblages, and ecosystems and also to parameterize ecosystem models used to evaluate cumulative risks and managerial strategies. Annual surveys are conducted within the coastal ecosystem off Oregon and Washington. At all stations a Cobb Trawl at 30 m is towed. Data on hydrology, plankton, small fish, and predators are collected along transects over the continental shelf from Oregon and Washington. Specimens are collected for diet analysis, growth, containment load, and other studies related to the ecology and production of commercially important taxa and their relationships within the food web.