High Temporal and Spatial Resolution Study of Herring Condition in Prince William Sound, Growth and Diet Data, 2011-2012: EVOS Herring Program

These data are part of the Herring Program of the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Trustee Council (EVOSTC), which is a multi-faceted study to determine why herring populations in Prince William Sound remain depressed since the early 1990s. Juvenile herring were collected in Simpson Bay, Prince William Sound (PWS) monthly from September 2011 – June 2012, as part of the Exxon Valdez oil spill (EVOS) Herring Program (project numbers: 12120111-M, 13120111-M). The dataset is six comma-separated value (csv) files exported from a Microsoft Access database containing data related to seasonal changes in growth, energy stores, and diet of young-of-the-year (YOY) herring in PWS. Herring were collected on research cruises at sea, frozen, and transported by air to the NOAA Auke Bay Laboratory in Juneau, Alaska for length and weight measurements and chemical analysis. Different data types are contained within each file. The file named Custody contains field collection information. The file named BioData includes length and weight measurements, and the weight of fish stomach contents. The file named RNADNA includes the ratio of ribonucleic acid (RNA) to deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) contents of herring white muscle tissue, which were used as an indicator of the relative amount of energy individual fish were allocating towards growth (with higher RNA/DNA reflecting greater protein synthesis rates). The file named Diet contains the enumeration of individual prey items in herring stomach contents. The file named ProxComp contains the moisture, ash, lipid, and protein content of homogenized whole herring as a percentage of wet tissue mass. The file named Parts includes the sample identification numbers and the tissues types of any organs weighed.