ICES Survey Protocols – Offshore beam trawl surveys, coordinated by Working group on Beam Trawl Surveys (WGBEAM)

<p dir="ltr">The ICES survey protocol for offshore beam trawl surveys describes the current methodologies, stratification, and sample processing used in the offshore beam trawl surveys that provide fisheries-independent information to the fish stock assessments for a variety of flatfish species, as well as information for indices under the Marine Strategy Framework Directive and other ecological questions. The surveys are conducted by Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, the Netherlands, and UK (Cefas). The manual also contains (i) an overview of the major historical changes in survey methodology and/or data collection, and (ii) an overview of the main attention points for data-users, e.g. when combining the data of the respective beam trawl surveys, and recommended data processing.</p><p dir="ltr">The present document is the 5th edition of the survey protocol. The manual has its origin in national manuals for offshore beam trawl surveys, and can be considered the public version of the national manuals.</p>