Cefas CIRO 8/96: North Sea Groundfish and Benthic Survey, 1996

A 1996 marine survey conducted by the Centre for Environment, Fisheries & Aquaculture Science (Cefas) aboard the RV Cirolana. The survey covered 262 stations in the North Sea, recording data from 75 core trawl stations and catching 146 different species. It collected station, catch, length, biological, benthic, water temperature, salinity, and litter data in support of EU regulations and the International Bottom Trawl Survey.

Use Cases

• Modeling fish stock composition and distribution based on the annual trawl station data.
• Analyzing benthic community structure based on recorded benthic catches.
• Studying correlations between fish populations and environmental factors like water temperature and salinity.
• Assessing marine litter data collected as part of the survey's additional aims.

Strengths

• Survey operations were undertaken on 262 stations, providing broad spatial coverage.
• 146 different species were recorded, indicating high biodiversity sampling.
• Data collection followed standardized international protocols (IBTS, GOV trawls).

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment for large-scale ML.
• Last update date is unknown; freshness unverified.

Provenance

Source

Centre for Environment, Fisheries & Aquaculture Science (Cefas), via Government Digital Service.

Collection Method

Data collected using research vessels and standardized gear (GOV trawls, beam trawls, Niskin bottles).

Time Range

Survey took place between 07/08/1996 and 09/09/1996.

Freshness

Data is from a single survey in 1996; it is a historical snapshot.

Geography

North Sea.