Historical Data Rescue Project

The NEFSC, Resource Surveys Branch has archived biological and oceanographic data collected since 1948. The primary research vessels ("Albatross III", "Albatross IV", "Delaware I" and "Delaware II") plus over five dozen charter vessels and two dozen foreign vessels were once involved in bottom trawl, gear comparison, hydracoustic, invertebrate, and shellfish research. Over 15,000 stations were occupied during these cruises in an attempt to delineate the species composition, geographic distribution, and abundance of various resources. Original field logs may contain fish and invertebrate species, weight, length frequency, total catch numbers, and associated oceanographic and meteorological data. Cruise notes, cruise reports, sailing orders, charts, press releases, and cruise tracks are also part of the cruise documentation. This project was divided in two parts: digital images and the description of selected bottom trawl surveys (1948-1962).

To preserve the Northeast Fisheries Science Center historical data archives in digital format and to make the information available to users in the scientific community.

Available to qualified researchers.

1. Formal request in writing usually to the data owner/contact or Center Director.

2. Requester is contacted by data owner to review and verify the request content and details for data delivery options.

3. If data is confidential then owner will determine is the data may be released to the requester.

4. If data can be released, the data is downloaded and packaged for delivery electronically; or the requester may be directed to where the data is available online.

If data is stored on an internal NEFSC network, the requester may not have direct access to query the data unless they are also authorized for network access.

User must read and fully comprehend the metadata prior to use. Applications or inferences derived from the data should be carefully considered for accuracy. Acknowledgement of NOAA/NMFS/NEFSC, as the source from which these data were obtained in any publications and/or other representations of these, data is suggested.