Food Habits Database (FHDBS)

The NEFSC Food Habits Database has two major sources of data. The first, and most extensive, is the standard NEFSC Bottom Trawl Surveys Program. During these surveys, food habits data are collected for a variety of species. Additionally, "process-oriented" cruises are conducted periodically to address specific questions related to the feeding ecology of the fish in the ecosystem.

Both sources provide primarily stomach content information; composition, total and individual prey weights or volumes, and length of prey. Additional information associated with each fish predator is also collected. Other databases encompass the prey fields of these fish, and include zooplankton, ichthyoplankton, and benthic surveys.

The surveys were designed to monitor trends in abundance and distribution and to provide data and samples to study the ecology of the large number of fish and invertebrate species inhabiting the northeast US continental shelf.

NEFSC Data Access Procedure:

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 if 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.

NEFSC Data Access Constraint:

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.

Prior to using data, it is recommended to contact Brian Smith from the Food Web Dynamics Program via email to get guidance on use of this data set.

Oracle 11g sole database

Data is audited prior to being available including a 15-point data quality assurance check conducted by experienced personnel within the Food Web Dynamics Program.

Data was extracted on February 27, 2017. For more current data, email Brian Smith in the Food Web Dynamics Program.

The FHDBS data undergo a 15-point data quality assurance check conducted by experienced personnel of the Food Web Dynamics Program. These checks range from ensuring the final data are complete (e.g. prey percentages sum to 100%, eliminate duplicate data, and all necessary fields are populated) to more complex quality assurance in the form of accurate prey selection and prey taxonomy, and other biological constraints (e.g. size of prey versus predator size, and volume or weight of prey versus weight of predator).

Data will be archived once a solution for archiving relational data sets is defined

Archival of source data preserving unaltered collected data, Scheduled backups, Remote storage backups, Password protection

see Food Web Dynamics Program website at http://nefsc.noaa.gov/femad/pbb/fwdp/ for a description of data and sources