In June 2011, a 12 day research cruise was conducted by NOAA National Marine Fisheries in collaboration with the Cooperative Institute for Ocean Exploration, Research, and Technology (CIOERT) at Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute, Florida Atlantic University (HBOI-FAU), and other academic and federal partners (including NOAA NCCOS, Florida State University, and University of Louisiana), using the NOAA Ship Pisces and the NOAA Southwest Fisheries Science Center’s ROVs.

A total of 10 ROV dives were conducted from June 1 to June 10, 2011, resulting in a total bottom time of 31.0 hours, covering 112 km, at depths from 56 to 375 m (Table 3, Fig. 1). A total of 4,445 in situ digital images were taken and included 339 general habitat and species photos, and 4,104 quantitative transect photos which were used for the SEADESC Level II analyses. Six sites were surveyed with multibeam sonar and covered a total area of 112 km2