Western Channel Sole and Plaice Survey Trends for 2020/21

A Fisheries Science Partnership survey series for the Western Channel. The dataset aims to show trends in the distribution, abundance, and age composition of sole (*Solea solea*) and plaice (*Pleuronectes platessa*), while also providing information on bycatch species. Data collection includes station, positional, depth, time, and length distribution records, with otoliths collected for age-at-length analysis, though the 2020 COVID pandemic delayed the survey and restricted some length data collection.

Use Cases

• Modeling population trends for sole and plaice based on recorded abundance and distribution data.
• Analyzing age-length relationships for flatfish based on otolith collection.
• Studying bycatch species composition and diversity mentioned in the survey aims.
• Investigating the impact of survey timing shifts on data collection, as noted for the 2020 pandemic delay.

Strengths

• Data includes multiple biological and environmental variables such as species length distribution, station position, depth, and time.
• Otolith collection provides individual age-at-length information for the two target species.
• Survey design explicitly targets trend analysis for distribution, abundance, and age composition.

Limitations

• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Length distribution data collection was restricted to sole and plaice only for the 2020/21 survey due to the pandemic.

Provenance

Source

Government Digital Service

Collection Method

Fisheries Science Partnership survey series involving station sampling with recorded shot/haul, positional, depth, time, and biological measurements.

Time Range

2020/21 survey period, delayed from usual August/September timing to November.

Freshness

Last update date is unknown; freshness unverified.

Geography

Western Channel