ICES Survey Protocols - Manual for International Pelagic Surveys, coordinated by ICES Working Group of International Pelagic Surveys (WGIPS)

Correction (5 March 2025): Citation revised to correctly reflect ICES as author; revision to list of editors on title page; revised/expanded Annex 1 (Author contact information).

This manual was developed by ICES Working Group of International Pelagic Surveys (WGIPS). It serves as a guide to the methodologies adhered to during the planning, execution, and analysis phases of WGIPS-coordinated surveys.

The group coordinates around 30 individual acoustic/trawl and swept-area surveys undertaken in the Northeast Atlantic by 10 countries (Ireland, Germany, UK [England, Scotland, and Northern Ireland], Norway, Netherlands, Faroe Islands, Denmark, Iceland, Greenland, and Spain), accounting for c. 550 at-sea survey days per annum.

Combined, the group reports on the distribution and age disaggregated abundance and biomass of stocks of herring, blue whiting, mackerel, horse mackerel, boarfish, sprat, sardine, and anchovy to ICES for assessment purposes from 48°N to 74°N and from 30°E to 25°W. In addition to biological data from target species, the group also routinely collects data over a range of biotic and abiotic parameters.