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Database Title

7.5 Ministry of Fisheries research:aerial sightings database (aer-sight)
Keywords
Type1.
Type 11.		 New Zealand EEZ; marine; oceans; fisheries; biomass; abundance.
Aerial sightings
Abstract

Contains opportunistically collected information on search effort and aerial sightings (e.g., school weight estimations, vessel specifications and flight times) of pelagic schooling species (mainly skipjack tuna, kahawai, blue mackerel, jack mackerel and trevally)

The data are collected from pilots spotting schools of fish for purse-seiners around New Zealand. The majority (75%) of the data has been collected from QMA 1, but data have also been collected from QMA's 2,3,7,8, and 9. Data is collected by fishing companies.
Geographical Coverage New Zealand EEZ
Dataset start date. 1976
Dataset end date. Current
Status/currency. In progress
Update frequency. Annual.
Maintenance. NIWA
Database size. 19,183kb.

 

Technical Evaluation

  
Parameters- what is measured
  • Schools by species
  • Estimated total weight in each school
Parameters- what is calculated Relative sightings/biomass index. How many fish are in the area
Methods used to measure parameters Purse seine fishing vessel companies charter planes whose crew periodically record the above parameters.
Scale of use. Variable
Number of records -
GIS compatibility. Not to date.
It is possible as latitude and longitude data is collected.
Available formats for users. Electronic relational database; requests are usually responded to with a flat file (Excel, ASCII). Numerous reports that analyse the data
Access constraints. By request to the Ministry of Fisheries There is no cost for the data although there is a NIWA charge to extract data.
Measurement Accuracy To be completed by database manager.
Completeness of dataset To be completed by database manager.
Positional accuracy To be completed by database manager.
Database steward Ministry of Fisheries.
Steward contact person. Kim Duckworth (Research Data Manager)
Database custodian NIWA
Database custodian contact person Don Robertson
Database custodian Contact
Address
Phone
Fax
Email		 PO Box 14 901
Kilbirnie
Wellington
+ 64 4 386 0519
+ 64 4 386 0572
d.robertson@niwa.cri.nz
References Taylor, P. 1995. Marine research database documentation:13. Aerial sightings. NIWA Internal Report (Fisheries) No 242. 25p
Bagley, N.W.; Anderson, O.F.; Hurst, R.J.; Francis, M.P.; Taylor, P.R.; Clark. M.R.; Paul, L.J. 2000. Atlas of New Zealand fish and squid distributions from mid water trawls, tuna long line sets, and aerial sightings. NIWA technical report 72. 171p.
Date metadata record prepared. June 2000
Author of metadata record. Victoria Froude

 

Management Evaluation

  
Original purpose. To improve fisheries management.
Relationships with classification systems. N/A
Relationships with other databases Information from this database is used with other fisheries databases and physical databases to address various management and research questions.
Known relationships with proposed EPIP indicators. May contribute to fisheries indicators.
Database uses? For research and management purposes. Provides a method for assessing the relative abundance of pelagic species.
Public awareness of the database Low.
High amongst stakeholders.
Database strengths.
  • Long term data set should allow major long term trends to be detected.
Database limitations.
  • There are reliability concerns because it is unclear how much of a fish population is at the surface rather than below the surface. This makes this method problematic for assessing estimated abundance.

 

What are the Current and Emerging Uses of the Database for:

  
Assisting with determining historic state/baseline. The database can be used to assess changes over time in locations where there is a regular series of data. Various research projects have modeled changes in the main commercial species.
Assisting with determining current state/baseline.
  • Used for assessing the relative abundance of pelagic species. Information from database has been used in the fish distribution atlas (Bagley et al,2000) maps species distribution by location.
  • Various research and management reports use data from this database.
Assisting with modeling possible future outcomes. Models have been developed to assess population trends and biomass of the main commercial species (e.g. orange roughy).
Risk assessment. The models are used to project likely future outcomes and risks under different senarios for the main commercial fish species.
Monitoring site selection and sample design. N/A
Aggregating and reporting data locally, regionally or nationally. This may be possible depending on the nature of the data.