Sea lice counts on wild sea trout

Data comprise sampling for wild sea trout from named sampling locations. The number of fish, individual fish fork length and the number and life cycle stage of any sea lice found are all recorded.

Notes on temporal and spatial coverage

Data have been divided into 3 separate periods due to minor differences in spatial coverage, files covering 1997 – 2009 and 2011 – 2024 include available data covering all mainland west coast and western isles fisheries trusts regions. Data from 2010 features only data from mainland west coast fisheries trust regions (which includes some inner islands).
Column headings
“site” contains the sampling site name
“region” contains information on the general region of Scotland within which the sample site is located.
“date” contains the date that sampling point was undertaken
“fish_id” contains a number to identify individual fish
“length” contains the fork length in mm of the individual sea trout
“copepodid_chalimus” contains the number of this life cycle stage of lice found on the individual fish
“preadult_adult” contains the number of this life cycle stage of lice found on the individual fish
“ovigerous_females” contains the number of this life cycle stage of lice found on the individual fish
Acknowledgements
This work was funded by Marine Scotland, and managed by Marine Scotland Science and Fisheries Management Scotland. Sampling was carried out by employees of the district fisheries trusts with the help of volunteers as required.