The chesmmap trawl survey will conduct four research cruises between june 2025 and march 2026 (june, september, november 2025, march 2026)

This federal Formula Grant award of $504,625.00 from the U.S. Department of the Interior Fish and Wildlife Service Region 5, under the Sport Fish Restoration program (CFDA 15.605), will fund the Chesapeake Bay Multispecies Monitoring and Assessment Program (CHESMMAP) conducted by the Virginia Marine Resources Commission.

The grant will support four research cruises between June 2025 and March 2026 to collect data on the Chesapeake Bay's marine ecosystem. The surveys will sample approximately 80 stations in June and September 2025, and 40 stations in the northern or southern portions of the Bay in November 2025 and March 2026. Sampling will utilize bottom trawling, midwater trawls, and benthic grab samplers to assess fish populations, water column conditions, and seafloor habitat. The data gathered will inform fisheries management and conservation efforts in the Chesapeake Bay region.

During the june and september cruises, approximately 80 stations will be sampled. During the november 2025 and march 2026 cruises approximately 40 stations will be sampled in the northern (march) or southern (november) portions of chesapeake BAY. All sampling sites will be selectedva f-130-r-21 chesapeake BAY multispecies monitoring and assessment program (chesmmap) using a stratified random design. Stratification is based on latitude and depth, and the number of sampling sites allocated to a given stratum is proportional to the size of the area of the stratum. All research cruises will be conducted onboard the vims research vessel, the RV virginia. When planning for this vessel began in 2012, chesmmap leadershipalso began planning for expanded, synoptic sampling of more elements of the biota of chesapeake BAY. Specifically, along with bottom trawling, the so-called chesmmap 2.0 survey would include sampling the upper layers of the water column with a custom designed midwater trawl as well as sampling at the benthic interface with a ponar grab sampler, both conducted at a subset of sampling locations. Due to the chartering fee structure for the RV virginia neither of these efforts would increase overall costs substantially. Benthic sampling with the ponar grab commenced in 2020. Experience with midwater gear was gained during a graduate student research project in earlier years though on the older research vessel. Further testing of the midwater gear as well as plankton nets on the RV virginia occurred in the previous segment and will continue in 2025-26.