Juvenile Fish and Blue Crab Trawl Surveys of the Chesapeake Bay from the Virginia Institute of Marine Science

The primary objective of the trawl survey is to monitor trends in seasonal distribution and abundance of juvenile fish of about twenty recreationally, commercially, and ecologically important finfish and invertebrates. Currently, the survey samples waters from the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay up to the freshwater interface at the fall line of the James, York, and Rappahannock Rivers.

Samples from about 60 stations are collected every month of the year. At each station, a 30 foot wide shrimp trawl is towed for five minutes. Once on board, the catch is sorted by species, the number of fish of each species is counted, a large proportion of the fish are measured and all are released.