Sea Around Us Project - Relative demersal fish abundance inferred from commercial catch data, northwestern Australia (1997-2006)

This dataset describes the relative abundance of an assemblage of commercially exploited demersal fishes in northwestern Australia, mapped over a 30 arc-minute (0.5 degree) spatial grid. The data cover the period 1997-2006 and are derived from an analysis of commercial landings available through the Sea Around Us Project (http://www.seaaroundus.org/). Further methodological details can be found in the following peer-reviewed publication, which applies the same analysis to a suite of mobile pelagic species: Bouchet PJ, Meeuwig JJ, Huang Z, Letessier TB, Nichol SL, Caley MJ, Watson RA. 2016. Continental-scale hotspots of pelagic fish abundance inferred from commercial catch records. Global Ecology and Biogeography.

Below is a full list of species/genera/families considered, with their respective contributions to the total catch (%):

Mustelus -- 26.1948% Platycephalidae -- 23.3191% Seriolella -- 10.8968% Sillaginidae -- 9.4242% Genypterus blacodes -- 5.8347% Pristiophorus -- 4.4934% Tetraodontidae -- 4.3235% Nemadactylus -- 4.2784% Squatinidae -- 3.6071% Mugilidae -- 3.181% Sparidae -- 2.7037% Chelidonichthys kumu -- 0.7146% Rajiformes -- 0.4497% Pterygotrigla polyommata -- 0.3911% Scorpaenidae -- 0.1292% Callorhinchus milii -- 0.0367% Rhombosolea -- 0.0046% Pleuronectiformes -- 0.0034% Leiognathidae -- 0.003% Lates calcarifer -- 0.0029% Ariidae -- 0.0025% Sciaenidae -- 0.0017% Nemipteridae -- 0.0014% Nemipterus -- 0.0014% Upeneus -- 0.001%

Data will be attached to this record once analyses are completed, est. December 2016.

Data and resources

DATA ACCESS - direct download Relative Abundance Demersal Fish [geotiff]

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NESP:SAUP_NW_demersalfish

MAP - Relative Demersal Fish Abundance

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NESP Project D1 [ANDS RDA record]

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Additional information

Temporal extent	1997-01-01 – 2006-12-31
Date (creation)	2016-06-15
Status	completed
Update frequency	asNeeded
Metadata language	en
License	The data described in this record are the intellectual property of the University of Western Australia and the University of Tasmania.
Source metadata	ISO 19115 XML
Last updated	2026-11-12
Created	2026-11-12
API	package_show