Abstract
In August 2018 the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, School for Marine Science and Technology (SMAST) was contacted by Vineyard Wind to conduct a pilot survey of their lease area (675 km2 ) and an adjacent control area (306 km2 ). The SMAST video trawl survey was started in 2013 and has shown success on Georges Bank and the Gulf of Maine using video technology placed in the codend of an otter trawl. The design includes open codend tows with a camera used to observe and count fish as they pass through the net along with periodic closed codend tows to collect biological data. The overall goal is to improve estimates of the abundance, spatial distribution, size structure, and length-weight relationship of the groundfish community. The pilot study was used to see if the video trawl survey would work in the area and act as baseline data for a before after control impact study. The initial plan was to use a combination of open and closed codend tows on 19 transects that were 8nm long and 2nm apart within the Vineyard Wind lease area and control area (Figure 1).