Western Channel Sole and Plaice Survey: Distribution and Age Trends, 2004/05

The Western Channel survey, conducted by the Centre for Environment, Fisheries & Aquaculture Science (Cefas) in 2004/05, tracks trends in the distribution, abundance, and age composition of sole and plaice. It likely contains station-level data on shot and haul positions, depths, times, and length distributions for fish and shellfish, with otoliths collected for aging. The dataset was published under the UK Open Government Licence.

Use Cases

• Modeling population trends based on recorded abundance and distribution data.
• Analyzing age-length relationships for sole and plaice using otolith-derived age information.
• Assessing bycatch species composition from the recorded catch data.
• Mapping fishing effort and environmental correlations using station positional and depth data.

Strengths

• Includes individual age-at-length data for sole and plaice from otolith samples.
• Records multiple data points per station, including positional, depth, and temporal information.
• Aims to show trends over time for key commercial flatfish species.

Limitations

• Row count and file formats are unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Last update date is unknown; freshness unverified.

Provenance

Source

Centre for Environment, Fisheries & Aquaculture Science (Cefas) via the Fisheries Science Partnership.

Collection Method

Scientific survey recording shot/haul, positional, depth, time, and biological data at sampled stations.

Time Range

2004/05

Freshness

Survey conducted in 2004/05; last update date is unknown.

Geography

Western Channel