Atlantic Surfclam Commercial Catches in St. Lawrence Estuary and Gulf

Quebec's Department of Fisheries and Oceans program collects biological samples from commercial Atlantic surfclam catches in the Estuary and Gulf of St. Lawrence. The dataset contains metadata, sample weight, and shell width measurements for specimens, with coverage from 2003 to the present. Data is collected at wharves or at sea by specialized DFO staff to support stock assessments.

Use Cases

• Analyze trends in Atlantic surfclam shell width over time to study population demographics.
• Model the relationship between sample weight and shell width for biomass estimation.
• Assess spatio-temporal coverage of commercial surfclam catches using metadata fields like fishing area and year.

Strengths

• Data collection provides a relatively large spatio-temporal coverage for the region.
• Covers a continuous time series from 2003 to the present.
• Collected by specialized DFO staff with a mandate for biological data on commercially exploited species.

Limitations

• Specific data points like vessel information and precise capture dates are simplified or excluded to protect confidentiality.
• Entries where only one vessel operated in a fishing area for a given year were excluded, potentially reducing sample completeness.
• The exact number of rows and columns is not specified in the provided input.

Provenance

Source

Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Quebec region.

Collection Method

Samples collected at wharves or at sea from commercial catches by specialized DFO staff.

Time Range

2003 to present.

Freshness

Dataset is updated to the present, with a last platform update recorded in March 2026.

Geography

Estuary and northern Gulf of St. Lawrence.