ES60 Water Column Sonar Data Collected During GOA03SS

The third biennial bottom trawl survey of Gulf of Alaska (GOA) groundfish resources was conducted from May 20 through August 9, 2003, by the Resource Assessment and Conservation Engineering (RACE) Division of the Alaska Fisheries Science Center (AFSC), Seattle, Washington. The standard biennial GOA survey area, established in 1999, stretches from the U.S.-Canada border at Dixon Entrance (54° 30' N latitude) to the Islands of the Four Mountains at the base of the Aleutian Islands (170° W longitude) including depths from approximately 10 to 1,000 m. The entire standard area was surveyed in 1999. Due to conflicting commitments in 2001, only the area west of 147° W longitude and depths to 500 m were surveyed that year. Although sufficient time and resources were available to survey the entire standard area in 2003, none of the vessels were equipped to fish as deep as 1,000 m. Consequently, hauls in the deepest strata (700-1,000 m) were eliminated from this year's survey design.