Northern California Current Ecosystem Survey (station)

This layer is intended to represent the geographic extent of NOAA Fisheries’ Northern California Current Ecosystem Survey stations. The Northern California Current Ecosystem Surveys started in 1996 and is led by NMFS Northwest Fisheries Science Center. These surveys expand the biophysical sampling conducted along the Newport Line out to the edge of the U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone. These surveys help us understand lower trophic level responses to environmental variability across the Pacific Northwest and California Current ecosystem. We also incorporate information on the abundance and distribution of mid-trophic level nekton, marine mammals, and birds. These samples inform broad-scale analyses of hydrography, phytoplankton, zooplankton, larval and juvenile fish, and ocean acidification and hypoxia. This survey is also part of a larger collaboration with Oregon State University researchers studying the marine biodiversity and size structure across broad spatial scales in the northern California Current. The Northern California Current Ecosystem Survey samples seasonally from northern Washington to the Oregon/California border, and offshore to 200 nautical miles off Newport, Oregon and 150 nautical miles off Crescent City, California on the NOAA Ship Bell M. Shimada. Seasonal sampling efforts include CTD, acoustic transects, zooplankton, ichthyoplankton, and macro-plankton sampling via bongo and Methot nets, as well as midwater and beam trawls.