American Plaice Commercial Catch Data from the St. Lawrence Estuary and Gulf

Fisheries and Oceans Canada's Quebec region provides a dataset on American plaice (Hippoglossoides platessoides) commercial catches. The data includes sample weight, fish length, sex, and specimen count, covering the periods 1989-2002, 2006-2008, and 2016-2018. It was collected by specialized staff at wharves or at sea to support stock assessments in the Estuary and northern Gulf of St. Lawrence.

Use Cases

• Analyze fish length and sex distributions across the 1989-2018 sampling periods to study population demographics.
• Model sample weight as a function of fish length and sex to understand growth patterns in American plaice.
• Track changes in specimen count over the multi-year periods to infer catch trends in the St. Lawrence fishing areas.

Strengths

• Data spans multiple distinct time periods (1989-2002, 2006-2008, 2016-2018), offering longitudinal insight.
• Collected by specialized Fisheries and Oceans Canada staff, ensuring authoritative biological measurements.
• Provides key demographic variables like fish length, sex, and specimen count for population structure analysis.

Limitations

• Specific row and column counts are unknown, making it difficult to assess the dataset's scale and granularity.
• Confidentiality protections have simplified or excluded some information (e.g., precise capture date, vessel details).
• Data entries were excluded if only one vessel operated in a fishing area for a given year, potentially creating gaps.

Provenance

Source

Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Quebec region.

Collection Method

Collected at wharves or at sea by specialized DFO staff as part of the commercial catches sampling program.

Time Range

1989-2002, 2006-2008, and 2016-2018.

Freshness

null

Geography

Estuary and northern Gulf of St. Lawrence, Canada.