Cefas 1990 Western English Channel Groundfish Survey: 57 Stations, 53 Species

Fifty-eight trawl stations on sole grounds in the Western English Channel were sampled during this 1990 survey. The series aimed to provide fisheries-independent abundance indices for sole and plaice, used to tune ICES stock assessments. Cefas staff conducted the survey on the chartered vessel Carhelmar between August 27 and October 3, 1990.

Use Cases

• Estimating recruitment indices for sole and plaice based on the survey's stated aim.
• Analyzing species composition and biodiversity from the 53 different species caught.
• Studying spatial distribution of groundfish across the 57 sampled stations in the Western English Channel.
• Calibrating commercial stock assessments with independent survey data as mentioned in the description.

Strengths

• Survey operations were undertaken on 57 specific stations, providing spatial structure.
• Records catches of 53 different species, indicating biodiversity coverage.
• Part of a long-term series running from 1984 to 2013, allowing for temporal analysis.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment for specific modeling tasks.

Provenance

Source

Centre for Environment, Fisheries & Aquaculture Science (Cefas)

Collection Method

Trawl survey using 4m beam trawls on a chartered commercial fishing vessel.

Time Range

1990-08 27 to 1990-10-03

Freshness

Data is from a historical survey in 1990; it is not updated.

Geography

Western English Channel, specifically English waters on main sole grounds.