Great Lakes Eurasian Ruffe Surveillance Data from 1994 to Present

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Lower Great Lakes Fish and Wildlife Conservation Office conducts annual bottom trawl surveys for the invasive Eurasian Ruffe. Surveys have been conducted biannually since 1994, excluding 2020, across eight harbors and ports in Lakes Erie and Ontario. The data includes counts and species identification for all fish collected, with a subset measured for total length.

Use Cases

• Modeling invasive species detection probability based on biannual sampling frequency and location data.
• Analyzing benthic fish community composition changes over time based on species counts.
• Studying seasonal variability in fish populations using associated water temperature data.
• Tracking survey effort and absence data for a target invasive species across a multi-decadal time series.

Strengths

• Long-term time series with surveys conducted from 1994 to the present day.
• Spatially explicit data covering eight specific harbors and ports in the lower Great Lakes.
• Includes multi-species data from the benthic community, not just the target invasive species.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Data may reflect geographic bias focused on specific lower Great Lakes ports.

Provenance

Source

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Lower Great Lakes Fish and Wildlife Conservation Office.

Collection Method

Biannual bottom trawl surveys at historical transects in designated ports and harbors.

Time Range

1994 to present, excluding 2020.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-04 08:09:48.749108; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Ports and harbors of Lakes Erie and Ontario: Toledo, Sandusky, Cleveland, Ashtabula, Conneaut, Erie (PA), Buffalo, Rochester.