Redfish Commercial Catch Data from the St. Lawrence Estuary and Gulf

Quebec's Department of Fisheries and Oceans provides biological data on commercially caught redfish (Sebastes sp.) in the Estuary and Gulf of St. Lawrence. The dataset includes sample weight, fish length, sex, and specimen counts, covering the periods 1980-1996, 1999-2013, 2015-2016, and 2019. Data was collected by specialized DFO staff at wharves or at sea to support stock assessments.

Use Cases

• Analyze fish length distributions across different years to track population size structure over time.
• Model the relationship between sample weight and fish length to study growth patterns in redfish populations.
• Examine sex ratios within catch samples to investigate potential demographic shifts in the fishery.
• Assess spatio-temporal coverage of the sampling program by linking catch data to generalized fishing areas.

Strengths

• Data collection spans multiple discontinuous periods from 1980 to 2019, offering long-term perspective.
• Includes multiple biological variables per sample: weight, length, sex, and specimen count.
• Collected by specialized government staff (DFO) for official stock assessment purposes.

Limitations

• Temporal coverage is discontinuous, with gaps in 1997-1998, 2014, 2017-2018, and post-2019.
• Confidentiality protections have simplified or excluded details like precise capture dates and vessel information.
• Entries with only one vessel in a fishing area for a given year were excluded, potentially biasing spatial coverage.

Provenance

Source

Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO), Quebec Region.

Collection Method

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

Time Range

1980-1996, 1999-2013, 2015-2016, 2019.

Freshness

Dataset metadata was last updated in March 2026, but the most recent data year is 2019.

Geography

Estuary and northern Gulf of St. Lawrence, Canada.