Historical Herring Biological and Survey Data from UK Waters, 1905-1990

UK fishing ports like Lowestoft and Great Yarmouth are the source for this archived collection of herring data from 1905 to 1990. The dataset likely contains biological measurements, scale growth analysis, survey records, and associated environmental observations. It is stored by the Government Digital Service as a substantial archive of hundreds of physical files, ledgers, and log books.

Use Cases

• Modeling herring population age structure based on biological data including age, length, and weight.
• Analyzing growth patterns and environmental influences based on scale projection length-at-age data.
• Mapping historical herring distribution changes based on spatial catch information from different years.
• Correlating fish maturity and survey data with environmental conditions like daily weather and wind observations.

Strengths

• Covers a long temporal range of 85 years, from 1905 to 1990.
• Includes multiple data types: biological, scale projection, survey, market sampling, and environmental observations.
• Archived material consists of hundreds of files, ledgers, and log books, suggesting a substantial volume of records.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Last update date is unknown; freshness unverified.

Provenance

Source

Government Digital Service

Collection Method

Data collected onboard research or commercial vessels during surveys and by scientists at UK fishing ports.

Time Range

1905-1990

Freshness

Historical data covering 1905-1990; last update status unknown.

Geography

UK waters and ports, including Lowestoft, Great Yarmouth, and South and North Shields.