Northumberland Strait Multi-species Trawl Survey Data

PURPOSE:

The primary objective of this survey is to obtain an index of the abundance of American lobster (Homarus Americanus) in the Northumberland Strait. This research survey also provides fisheries-independent information for all of the species captured by the trawl.

DESCRIPTION:

Catch weight, length frequencies, and biological information for crustaceans and fish caught during the annual July-August research vessel trawl survey in Northumberland Strait (NAFO Division 4T). Abundance indices and spatial distribution patterns of commercial and non-commercial crustaceans and other groundfish.

PARAMETERS COLLECTED:

The full catch is sorted to species, or lowest taxonomic group possible, and weighed. For lobster, carapace length, sex and carapace condition (i.e. stage of moult) are recorded. For female lobster, the presence or absence of eggs is noted and, starting in 2010, the stage of development of the eggs (i.e. new or old) when present was also recorded. Similarly, for crabs, the carapace width, sex and carapace condition (i.e. stage of moult) is recorded as is the presence or absence of eggs (for females). Fish sampling varied over the years but, starting in 2005, length has been recorded for all fish captured.

For large catches, the complete catch is sorted and weighed, but sub-sampling, by species, is used for the other measurements.

NOTES ON QUALITY CONTROL:

Data are checked for irregularities.

SAMPLING METHODS:

The Northumberland Strait multi-species survey began in 2001 as a random stratified survey and now employs a random selection of sampling sites within the study area. Sampling is completed annually over a 4-week period in July and August. 110 stations are sampled in Northumberland Strait in water depths exceeding 4 m at Lowest Normal Tide. The survey has employed a 286 rockhopper trawl in all years from 2001 to 2018, except in 2010 and 2011 when a Nephrops trawl was used. In 2019, a newly designed trawl (termed the “Northumberland trawl”) was used in addition to the rockhopper trawl. The Northumberland trawl is similar to the rockhopper trawl but with a smaller footgear and smaller mesh sizes.

At each station, the trawl is towed for a set period of time (recently 15 minutes with the rockhopper trawl and 10 minutes with the Northumberland trawl).

USE LIMITATION:

To ensure scientific integrity and appropriate use of the data, we would encourage you to contact the data custodian.

Datasets available for download

Additional Info

Field	Value
Last Updated	October 20, 2025, 02:37 (UTC)
Created	October 20, 2025, 02:37 (UTC)
Domain / Topic Domain or topic of the dataset being cataloged.	Biota
Title Title for the Dataset.	Northumberland Strait Multi-species Trawl Survey Data
Description A description of the dataset.	PURPOSE: The primary objective of this survey is to obtain an index of the abundance of American lobster (Homarus Americanus) in the Northumberland Strait. This research survey also provides fisheries-independent information for all of the species captured by the trawl. DESCRIPTION: Catch weight, length frequencies, and biological information for crustaceans and fish caught during the annual July-August research vessel trawl survey in Northumberland Strait (NAFO Division 4T). Abundance indices and spatial distribution patterns of commercial and non-commercial crustaceans and other groundfish. PARAMETERS COLLECTED: The full catch is sorted to species, or lowest taxonomic group possible, and weighed. For lobster, carapace length, sex and carapace condition (i.e. stage of moult) are recorded. For female lobster, the presence or absence of eggs is noted and, starting in 2010, the stage of development of the eggs (i.e. new or old) when present was also recorded. Similarly, for crabs, the carapace width, sex and carapace condition (i.e. stage of moult) is recorded as is the presence or absence of eggs (for females). Fish sampling varied over the years but, starting in 2005, length has been recorded for all fish captured. For large catches, the complete catch is sorted and weighed, but sub-sampling, by species, is used for the other measurements. NOTES ON QUALITY CONTROL: Data are checked for irregularities. SAMPLING METHODS: The Northumberland Strait multi-species survey began in 2001 as a random stratified survey and now employs a random selection of sampling sites within the study area. Sampling is completed annually over a 4-week period in July and August. 110 stations are sampled in Northumberland Strait in water depths exceeding 4 m at Lowest Normal Tide. The survey has employed a 286 rockhopper trawl in all years from 2001 to 2018, except in 2010 and 2011 when a Nephrops trawl was used. In 2019, a newly designed trawl (termed the “Northumberland trawl”) was used in addition to the rockhopper trawl. The Northumberland trawl is similar to the rockhopper trawl but with a smaller footgear and smaller mesh sizes. At each station, the trawl is towed for a set period of time (recently 15 minutes with the rockhopper trawl and 10 minutes with the Northumberland trawl). USE LIMITATION: To ensure scientific integrity and appropriate use of the data, we would encourage you to contact the data custodian.
Tags / Keywords Keywords/tags categorizing the dataset.	Alosa pseudoharengus Cancer irroratus Clupea harengus harengus Crustaceans Fish Fisheries Fisheries resources Gadus morhua Gulf of St. Lawrence Hippoglossoides... Homarus americanus Leucoraja ocellata Limanda ferruginea Microgadus tomcod Myoxocephalus... Myoxocephalus scorpius Nature and Environment Oceans Osmerus mordax Ovalipes ocellatus Pseudopleuronectes... Science and Technology Scomber scombrus Scophthalmus aquosus Surveys Tautogolabrus adspersus Trawl Urophycis tenuis
Format (CSV, XLS, TXT, PDF, etc) File format of the dataset.
Dataset Size Dataset size in megabytes.
Metadata Identifier Metadata identifier – can be used as the unique identifier for catalogue entry
Published Date Published date of the dataset.	2020-04-04
Time Period Data Span (start date) Start date of the data in the dataset.
Time Period Data Span (end date) End date of time data in the dataset.
GeoSpatial Area Data Span A spatial region or named place the dataset covers.

Field	Value
Access category Type of access granted for the dataset (open, closed, service, etc).
License License used to access the dataset.	Open Government Licence - Canada
Limits on use Limits on use of data.
Location Location of the dataset.	https://open.canada.ca/data/en/dataset/6d61f7b4-39eb-c8a9-a71c-b65d2eca8660
Data Service Data service for accessing a dataset.
Owner Owner of the dataset.	Fisheries and Oceans Canada \| Pêches et Océans Canada
Contact Point Who to contact regarding access?	Government of Canada; Fisheries and Oceans Canada, 506-378-0481, [email protected]
Contact Point Email The email to contact regarding access?
Publisher Publisher of the dataset.
Publisher Email Email of the publisher.	[email protected]
Author Author of the dataset.
Author Email Email of the author.
Accessed At Date the data and metadata was accessed.

Field	Value
Identifier Unique identifier for the dataset.
Language Language(s) of the dataset
Link to dataset description A URL to an external document describing the dataset.
Persistent Identifier Data is identified by a persistent identifier.
Globally Unique Identifier Data is identified by a persistent and globally unique identifier.
Contains data about individuals Does the data hold data about individuals?
Contains data about identifiable individuals Does the data hold identifiable data about individual?
Contains Indigenous Data Does the data hold data about Indigenous communities?
Portal Type Platform type of the source portal.

Field	Value
Version Version of the datatset	None
Source Source of the dataset.	None
Version notes Version notes about the dataset.
Is version of another dataset Link to dataset that it is a version of.
Other versions Link to datasets that are versions of it.
Provenance Text Provenance Text of the data.
Provenance URL Provenance URL of the data.
Temporal resolution Describes how granular the date/time data in the dataset is.
GeoSpatial resolution in meters Describes how granular (in meters) geospatial data is in the dataset.
GeoSpatial resolution (in regions) Describes how granular (in regions) geospatial data is in the dataset.

Field	Value
Indigenous Community Permission Who holds the Indigenous Community Permission. Who to contact regarding access to a dataset that has data about Indigenous communities.
Community Permission Community permission (who gave permission).
The Indigenous communities the dataset is about Indigenous communities from which data is derived.

Field	Value
Number of data rows If tabular dataset, total number of rows.
Number of data columns If tabular dataset, total number of unique columns.
Number of data cells If tabular dataset, total number of cells with data.
Number of data relations If RDF dataset, total number of triples.
Number of entities If RDF dataset, total number of entities.
Number of data properties If RDF dataset, total number of unique properties used by the triples.
Data quality Describes the quality of the data in the dataset.
Metric for data quality A metric used to measure the quality of the data, such as missing values or invalid formats.

Northumberland Strait Multi-species Trawl Survey Data

Datasets available for download

Additional Info

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