Herring biological (fish and sample) data as part of Herring Stock Assessment database

Herring Permanent Spawn Transects (geodatabase) - used for herring spawn survey program and spatial analysis/presentation of spawn data from Herring Stock Assessment Database (including creation of spawn polygons).

,

,

Pacific Herring spawn index data for British Columbia from 1951 to present. Note that the spawn index is a relative index of spawning biomass. In addition, “NA" indicates that data are unavailable because they are either incomplete or withheld; contact the custodian for more information. For the "Region" column specifically, "NA" indicates that the location is outside stock assessment region boundaries. There are a few caveats to consider when interpreting Pacific Herring spawn index data, which are discussed in the technical report (see supporting documents).

,

Atlantic herring. Concentration, breeding areas and larval retention areas of Atlantic Herring in the St. Lawrence Estuary.Data extracted from the Fish Habitat Management Information System (FHAMIS). Concentration areas, spawning sites and breeding areas of Atlantic herring according to a literature review of documents produced between 1977 and 1998.

Pacific Herring roe catch data for British Columbia. There are five major stock assessment regions: Haida Gwaii, Prince Rupert District, Central Coast, Strait of Georgia, and West Coast of Vancouver Island; and two minor stock assessment regions: Area 2W and Area 27. Catch that occurred outside of the major and minor stock assessment regions is recorded as ‘other’. Herring roe catch data is maintained in the Herring stock assessment database. The sum of catch is in metric tonnes for a specified time frame, geographical location, and gear type. Due to privacy, catch where less than three parties fished in a given area and time frame cannot be released. In these cases, ‘WP’ will appear in this field.

These datasets exist in raster and vector formats. The vector format was created from the SHA Shoreline file and graphic representations in the Lippson book (See bibliography below). These areas were then overlane with a point file created from lat/long collected during the surveys conducted by O'dell, Mowrer, and Uphoff of MD DNR Fisheries Service. This was done to verify that the graphic representations were accurate. These data sets were then converted to raster format and reclassified with a rank determined by DNR biologists. This rank determines level of habitat importance with spawning areas ranking highest and adult areas of bay depth below 3 feet ranking the lowest. These ranked rasters were then stacked and an output raster was created showing areas of high habitat diversity. These rasters were then clipped by county. Lippson, Alice Jane."the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland. an atlas of natural resources." the Johns Hopkins University Press. Baltimore and London, 1973.