Western Australia's relative abundance of 23 commercially exploited pelagic fish species is mapped on a 0.5-degree grid from 1997 to 2006. The data are derived from commercial landings analyzed by the Sea Around Us Project and published in a 2017 peer-reviewed study. Southern bluefin tuna, narrow-barred Spanish mackerel, and greenback horse mackerel are among the species with the highest catch contributions.
Use Cases
- Modeling species distribution hotspots based on relative abundance data from commercial catches.
- Analyzing temporal trends in pelagic fish populations over the 1997-2006 period.
- Comparing catch composition and dominance among the 23 listed fish species.
- Spatial analysis of fish abundance patterns on a 0.5-degree grid around Western Australia.
Strengths
- Data covers a 10-year period from 1997 to 2006.
- Includes relative abundance for 23 distinct pelagic fish species with specific catch percentages.
- Spatial data is mapped on a standardized 30 arc-minute (0.5-degree) grid.
- Derived from a peer-reviewed publication (Bouchet et al., 2017, Global Ecology and Biogeography).
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 and source bias inherent to commercial catch records.
Provenance
- Source
- Sea Around Us Project, via the Australian Ocean Data Network (data_gov_au).
- Collection Method
- Derived from an analysis of commercial landings data.
- Time Range
- 1997-2006
- Freshness
- Last updated 2026-06-04 13:05:38.621006; freshness should be verified.
- Geography
- Western Australia, mapped over a spatial grid.