Cefas Survey CHMR 1/97: Western English Channel Groundfish Catch Data, October 1997

The Western English Channel survey collected fisheries-independent data from 58 trawl stations in English waters between October 15 and 23, 1997. This annual survey, conducted by the Centre for Environment, Fisheries & Aquaculture Science (Cefas) on the chartered vessel Carhelmar, aimed to provide abundance indices for sole and plaice. The operation recorded catches of 53 different species using standardized beam trawls.

Use Cases

• Estimating recruitment and abundance indices for sole and plaice based on the survey's stated purpose.
• Analyzing species composition and biodiversity based on the recorded catch of 53 different species.
• Calibrating stock assessment models for ICES working groups based on the survey's tuning objective.
• Studying spatial distribution of groundfish based on data from 58 sampled trawl stations.

Strengths

• Data collected over a defined 9-day period in October 1997, providing a temporal snapshot.
• Survey methodology is described, including the use of two standardized 4m beam trawls.
• Catch data includes 53 different species, indicating broad taxonomic coverage.
• Part of a long-term survey series running from 1984 to 2013, suggesting consistent methodology.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment for specific ML tasks.
• Data may reflect geographic and temporal bias inherent to a single quarterly survey in one region.

Provenance

Source

Centre for Environment, Fisheries & Aquaculture Science (Cefas)

Collection Method

Survey conducted from a chartered commercial fishing vessel (Carhelmar) using beam trawls, with Cefas staff sampling 58 pre-defined stations.

Time Range

1997-10-15 to 1997-10-23

Freshness

Data is from a historical survey in 1997; update frequency is not applicable.

Geography

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