Biological data for 5 common bait fish species fished around St Helena Island collected from August 2017 to September 2019

The dataset is an excel file which comprises of data on length, weight, sex, maturity and stomach weight for Decapterus macarellus (kingston), D. muroadsi (yellowtail/steenbrass), D. punctatus (summers/summer steenbrass), Selar crumenophtalmus (big eye scad) and Scomber colias (Atlantic chub mackerel). The bait fish were caught from the leeward side of Saint Helena Island from August 2017 to September 2019 in order to characterise seasonal patterns in the bait fish ecology. All fishing activities took place in shallow water (<30m) between 4:00AM and 6:00AM.

Data and Resources

This dataset has no data

Additional Info

Field	Value
Last Updated	June 24, 2025, 05:46 (PDT)
Created	June 24, 2025, 05:46 (PDT)
Region	Saint Helena
Language	eng
Topic Category	Oceans; salt water bodies (not inland waters)
Temporal Extent Start	2017-08
Temporal Extent End	2019-09
Dataset Reference Date	2019
Lineage	The bait fish were caught through standardised effort per month (3 bait fishing trips equating to appriximately 6 hours of fishing per month). Fish were caught by chumming then capturing with dip nets, hook and line and droppers. Afterwards the fish was processed in the laboratory: the full fish were weighed and the stomachs removed and individually weighed using digital scales. The sex and maturity was classified using a 0-5 ICCAT maturity visual reference scale. Note that this data series links to another data series quantifying the stomach contents by the unique ID (formated: YYYY_TRIPID_SPECIESCODE_ACTIVITYNUMBER_FISHNUMBER)
West Longitude	9.23
South Latitude	19.38
East Longitude	-2.18
North Latitude	-12.55
Spatial Reference System	EPSG4326
Responsible Organisation Name	Hidden (personal data protection)
Contact Mail Address	Hidden (personal data protection)
Responsible Party Role	Hidden (personal data protection)
Access Limitations	Restricted until publication
Use Constraints	Open
Resource Reference	Open but Please acknowledge data source as: St Helena Government, Environmental Managament Division, Marine Conservation Section. Oceanographic influences on the St Helena pelagic ecosystem. A Darwin PLUS Initiative project funded by the UK government.
Data Format	excel
Update Frequency	not planned - survey completed
Accuracy	weight +/- 0.001g, length +/- 0.4cm, matiruty (0-5 scale)
Resource Type	DataSeries
Original Title	Hidden (internal use only)
Metadata Date	2021-07-07
Metadata Point of Contact	datamanager@saeri.ac.fk
Unique Resource ID	SH-SHG-280