Western Channel Sole and Plaice Survey: Distribution, Abundance, and Age Data 2010-2011

2010-2011 survey data from the Fisheries Science Partnership series focusing on sole and plaice in the Western Channel. The dataset was collected by the Centre for Environment, Fisheries & Aquaculture Science (Cefas) to show trends in distribution, abundance, and age composition. It includes positional, depth, and time information at each station, length distribution data for all fish and shellfish, and otoliths collected for individual age-at-length analysis.

Use Cases

• Modeling population trends based on recorded distribution and abundance data.
• Analyzing age structure and growth rates based on otolith-derived age-at-length information.
• Assessing bycatch species composition and impact based on the recorded bycatch information.
• Studying spatial and temporal habitat use based on station-level positional, depth, and time data.

Strengths

• Data includes multiple biological metrics: distribution, abundance, age composition, and length distribution.
• Otolith collection provides individual-level age data for key species.
• Survey is part of a defined series (Fisheries Science Partnership) aimed at showing trends.

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 modeling.
• Last update date is unknown; freshness unverified.

Provenance

Source

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

Collection Method

Station-based survey recording shot/haul, positional, depth, time, length, and otolith collection.

Time Range

2010-2011

Freshness

Data covers the 2010-2011 period; last update is unknown.

Geography

Western Channel