Western English Channel Groundfish Survey for Sole and Plaice, 1984-2013
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Description
Fifty-eight annual trawl stations from 1984 to 2013 provide fisheries-independent abundance indices for sole and plaice in the Western English Channel. The survey was conducted by Cefas staff on chartered commercial fishing vessels. Catches were sorted and measured, with biological sampling for age, weight, and maturity of the target species.
Use Cases
Tuning stock assessment models based on fisheries-independent abundance indices.
Analyzing recruitment estimates for sole and plaice based on age group data.
Studying species composition and length distributions in a commercial fishing ground.
Investigating changes in epi-benthos and non-commercial species over a multi-decadal period.
Strengths
Covers a 30-year time series from 1984 to 2013.
Includes biological sampling for age, weight, and maturity of sole and plaice.
Data collected from 58 standardized trawl stations annually.
Limitations
Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
Non-commercial species data was not consistently collected for the entire survey period.
Provenance
Source
Government Digital Service
Collection Method
Annual trawl surveys conducted by Cefas staff on chartered commercial fishing vessels.
Time Range
1984 to 2013
Freshness
Last update date is unknown; freshness unverified.
Geography
Western English Channel, specifically English waters on the main sole grounds.