Historical Herring Biological and Survey Data from 1905 to 1990

Hundreds of files, ledgers, and log books from a fisheries data archive contain biological, survey, and market data on herring. The collection includes individual fish age, length, weight, maturity, vertebrae counts, and scale projection data. Associated environmental observations and spatial catch distribution information were collected by scientists at ports like Lowestoft and Great Yarmouth.

Use Cases

• Modeling herring population age structure based on biological data including age, length, and weight.
• Analyzing growth patterns using scale projection data on length-at-age.
• Studying historical stock distribution based on spatial information of herring catches.
• Investigating environmental correlations using daily weather and wind observations from surveys.

Strengths

• Covers a long temporal range from 1905 to 1990.
• Includes multiple data types: biological, survey, market, environmental, and spatial.
• Data was collected from dedicated research surveys and traditional fishing ports.

Limitations

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

Provenance

Source

Government Digital Service

Collection Method

Collected onboard research or commercial vessels and by scientists at fishing ports.

Time Range

1905-1990

Freshness

Historical data covering up to 1990; last update unknown.

Geography

Likely includes North Sea areas, referencing ports like Lowestoft, Great Yarmouth, and South and North Shields.