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American eel distribution on the east coast of Canada as inferred from fishing records
Citation
Cairns, D.K. (2013). American eel distribution on the east coast of Canada as inferred from fishing records. Version 1 In OBIS Canada Digital Collections. Bedford Institute of Oceanography, Dartmouth, NS, Canada. Published by OBIS, Digital http://www.iobis.org/. Accessed on –INSERT DATE. https://marineinfo.org/id/dataset/4725
Contact: Cairns, David

Access data
Archived data
Availability: Creative Commons License This dataset is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Description
This dataset maps fishing locations of American eels on the east coast of Canada, derived from logbook records, interviews with fisheries officers, and data collected by government agencies. Fishing locations indicate presence of eels because fishers would not fish at these locations if eels were absence. However, absence of records does not indicate absence of eels. There may be no eel fishery in a given area for several reasons, including regulatory prohibitions, lack of markets, and lack of a local eel fishing tradition. more

Aquatic habitat on the east coast of Canada was mapped and classified, with emphasis on habitat used by American eels. Data on eel fishing locations were compiled to aid in determining the habitat used by eels.
Locations of elver fisheries in Newfoundland in 2008 were provided by the elver licence holder. Locations of other eel fisheries in Newfoundland and Labrador in 2005 and 2007 were derived from commercial logbooks (G. Veinott, pers. Comm.). Locations of estuary trap fisheries in the St. Lawrence estuary in 2009 are from records of the Québec Ministère des des ressourcrs naturelles et de la faune (G. Verreault and R. Tardif, pers. Comm.). Locations of eel fisheries in the southern Gulf of St. Lawrence for 2006 - winter 2010 are from interviews with DFO fisheries officers, conducted at local detachment offices during winter 2010. Locations of commercial (fyke, longline) eel fisheries in Îles-de-la-Madeleine in 2008 are from Richard (2008), and are based on interviews with fishers and visits to fishing sites. These locations are very similar to those given by Georges (2008). Locations of recreational spear fisheries in Îles-de-la Madeleine in the winter of 2003-2004 are from Georges (2005). These locations are approximate, because Georges (2005) identifies lagoons in which eels are speared, but not exact fishing sites. Locations of yellow and silver eel fisheries in Scotia Fundy in 2005-2007, and of elver fisheries for 1996-1999 and 2000-2003, are from commercial logbook programs (R. Bradford, C. Harvie, and G. Stevens, pers. Comm.). Coordinates reported for some fishing locations were on the land side of the coastlines. Reported fishing locations that were on land were likely due to small errors in GPS measurements or in digitizing points recorded on paper maps - in such cases fishing locations were shifted to the nearest point in water.

Scope
Themes:
Biology > Fish
Keywords:
Marine/Coastal, ANW, Canada, East, Anguilla rostrata (Lesueur, 1817)

Geographical coverage
ANW, Canada, East [Marine Regions]

Temporal coverage
1 January 1996 - 1 January 2010

Taxonomic coverage
Anguilla rostrata (Lesueur, 1817) [WoRMS]

Parameter
Presence of biota

Contributors
Government of Canada; Department of Fisheries and Oceans; Bedford Institute of Oceanography (BIO), moredata creator

Related datasets
Published in:
OBIS-Canada: Canadian Ocean Biodiversity Information System, more

Publication
Based on this dataset
Cairns, D.K. et al. (2012). An atlas and classification of aquatic habitat on the east coast of Canada, with an evaluation of usage by the American eel. Canadian Technical Report of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences = Rapport Technique Canadien des Sciences Halieutiques et Aquatiques, 2986. Fisheries and Oceans Canada: Moncton. v, 99 + appendix pp., more
Georges, S. (2005). Caractérisation de la pêche à l’anguille aux Îles-de-la-Madeleine, saison hiver 2003-2004, in: Fournier, D. et al. (Ed.) (2005). Compte rendu de l'Atelier sur les pêches commerciales 2005: tenu à Québec, Hôtel Clarion les 26, 27 et 28 janvier 2005. pp. 15-21, more

Dataset status: Completed
Data type: Data
Data origin: Research: field survey
Metadatarecord created: 2015-02-13
Information last updated: 2015-02-19
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