Dataset: Scup and windowpane flounder length frequency count for study of windowpane flounder catch using scup gear and a Large Mesh Belly Panel (LMBP), October 2015 (Windowpane Bycatch project)

Hauls were made in southern New England marine waters encompassing approximately 2000 square miles extending from Point Judith, RI in the west to Martha’s Vineyard, MA in the east and extending south to include Rhode Island Sound and portions of the Atlantic Ocean.

Subsamples of the catch were taken during each tow for length frequency distribution analysis. For each tow, 100 individual length measurements were taken for scup and windowpane flounder. All fish were measured if there were less than 100 per tow. The subsample length frequencies were expanded to the entire catch [www.bco-dmo.org/dataset/686700] to determine the length frequency distribution for the catch. For each tow, the total catch numbers at length were calculated as the subsample numbers at length multiplied by the species-specific ratio of catch weight to subsample weight. Catch numbers were calculated for each net as the sum of the expanded numbers at length per tow. Each length bin includes fish that are within 0.5 cm of the bin value.

The methodology is available in the final report (pdf). See Supplemental Files section.