Cefas Survey CHMR 1/93: Western English Channel Groundfish Catch Data, October 1993

Centre for Environment, Fisheries & Aquaculture Science (Cefas) conducted this survey as part of the Western English Channel Groundfish Survey series from 1984 to 2013. The survey aimed to provide fisheries-independent abundance indices for sole and plaice, covering 58 trawl stations in English waters during October 1993. It was carried out on the chartered vessel Carhelmar, catching 47 different species.

Use Cases

• Tuning ICES stock assessments based on fisheries-independent abundance indices mentioned in the description.
• Analyzing species composition and diversity based on the 47 species caught.
• Modeling spatial distribution of sole and plaice based on the 58 sampled trawl stations.
• Studying the effectiveness of specific beam trawl gear used during the survey operations.

Strengths

• Survey operations were undertaken on 57 stations, providing spatial coverage.
• 47 different species were recorded, indicating biodiversity data.
• Part of a long-term survey series running from 1984 to 2013, suggesting temporal consistency.

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

Survey undertaken on a chartered commercial fishing vessel (Carhelmar) using beam trawls, with Cefas staff on board.

Time Range

Survey took place between 06/10/1993 and 13/10/1993.

Freshness

Data is from a specific survey in 1993; the series ended in 2013.

Geography

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