Title Processed CTD data from the Pelagic Biomass Survey on the Africana Voyage 290, October 2016
Project Pelagic Biomass Survey
Authors

Marcel van den Berg
Oceans and Coastal Research, Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment (DFFE) Scientific Technician 2nd Floor, Foretrust Building, 1 Martin Hammerschlag Way, Cape Town, South Africa, marcel@oceanafrica.com

Publisher Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment (2017)
Contributors

Contact Person: Marcel van den Berg
Oceans and Coastal Research, Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment (DFFE) Scientific Technician 2nd Floor, Foretrust Building, 1 Martin Hammerschlag Way, Cape Town, South Africa, marcel@oceanafrica.com

Abstract This is processed Conductivity, Temperature, Depth (CTD) data from the Pelagic Biomass Survey on the Africana Voyage 290 from 25 October - 14 December 2016. The cruise operated from Hondeklip Bay to Port St Johns, South Africa.The principal aim of the Pelagic Biomass Surveys is to obtain estimates of the total biomass of anchovy, sardine and west coast round herring and to obtain data on their population length frequency compositions, for input to the operational management procedure (OMP) for making Total Allowable Catch (TAC) recommendations for the following year. The surveys also obtain information on the environment and food regime impacting anchovy, sardine and west coast round herring around the coast, although recent surveys (~2009 onwards) have included much less environmental sampling than earlier years. The survey uses hydro-acoustics to estimate fish density and abundance, and midwater trawling to identify acoustic targets and to obtain length frequency and other biological data, and ichthyoplankton and environmental sampling are also conducted. The abundance and biomass estimates from these surveys are an essential input into the management process and serve as a scientific basis for the setting of TAC recommendations for the small pelagic fishery. The area covered by the pelagic surveys extends over much of the continental shelf around South Africa, and initially extended from Hondeklip Bay on the west coast to Port Alfred on the south coast, but has extended further east in some recent years.
Methods The CTD raw data was converted to scientific units using SBEDataProcessing software (ver 7.26.7.114). The following modules (SBEDataProcessing) were then run on the converted data using the recommended default values: Align CTD, Filter, Loop Edit and Cell Thermal Mass. The data was then split into the up cast and the down cast. The down cast data was then bin averaged on pressure, every 1db.
Data
Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Temporal extent 26 Oct 2016 – 14 Dec 2016
Geographic extent

Hondeklip Bay, Port St Johns, South Africa

North: -30.0
South: -37.0
West: 16.0
East: 21.0

Keywords Africana, Africana 290, Conductivity, CTD, Depth, INDIAN OCEAN, SOUTH ATLANTIC OCEAN, Temperature
Related resources