Otter trawl fish and blue crab survey results from the 2022-2023 Beaufort Inlet, NC, USA dredge project

These datasets are the observations from an otter trawl survey in Beaufort Inlet, NC, USA during 2022-2023 aimed at investigating the potential impacts of hopper dredging on fishery-significant species. Observed organisms were identified to the lowest taxa possible. Finfish smaller than 10cm were measured to the nearest millimeter while fish greater than 10cm were measured to the nearest 0.5cm. Fish were measured using total length and crabs were measured using carapace width. Other organisms, such as cnidaria and shrimp, were simply counted. Biomass was estimated using species specific alpha and beta growth indices sourced from Fishbase. Trawl metrics include mean speed, depth, duration, distance trawled, and trawled area. A YSI Pro Quattro was used to collected temperature, salinity, pH, and DO water quality measurements during each survey date.
, , # Data from: Otter trawl fish and blue crab survey results from the 2022-2023 Beaufort Inlet, NC, USA dredge project

Dataset DOI: [10.5061/dryad.f7m0cfz8x](https://datadryad.org/dataset/doi:10.5061/dryad.f7m0cfz8x)

Description of the data and file structure

**1) 2022_TrawlingMasterSheet_rev.xlsx**

This dataset contains the otter trawl observations for the 2022 survey year.

Excel sheet tabs are as follows:

Raw_Data --> Site indicates the dredge channel (CH), east control (EC), or west control (WC). Date indicates the calendar date the survey was conducted. Region indicates the corresponding strata quadrant in which the survey was conducted (each control has eight quadrants while the channel has twelve). Family indicates the family associated with an observed individual. Species indicates the genus and species epithet associated with an observed individual. Common Name indicates the regional name associated with an observed individual. Total Number is the count of individuals observ..., ,