Cruise Report: NOAA Ship FERREL Cruise FE-02-09-MA (April 3-10, 2002). Benthic Survey of the Gray's Reef National Marine Sanctuary and Nearby Shelf Waters, Spring 2002

摘要

This cruise report is a summary of field work conducted in and around the Gray's Reef National Marine Sanctuary (GRNMS), April 2002, as part of an ongoing ecological characterization of GRNMS and nearby shelf waters. An important goal of the current survey is to determine the extent to which land-based sources of pollutants and other materials are transported through river systems to the offshore shelf environment, inclusive of GRNMS, and the potential effects that these materials may be having on biological resources along the way. A total of 13 stations were sampled April 3 April 10, 2002 from the NOAA ship FERREL (Cruise FE-02-09-MA) along two cross-shelf transects including one station in GRNMS serving as the seaward end of the southern transect. The primary focus of the cruise was on the collection of samples for the analysis of benthic macroinfaunal community structure and concentrations of chemical contaminants in sediments. Night-time trawling for fish assemblages also was conducted opportunistically at some stations to support a companion project.