Historical dynamics of the demersal fish community in the East and South China Seas

We digitized historical Taiwanese otter trawler catch-and-effort (CPUE) data in the East China Sea (Lat: 17-34.5°N, Long: 108-128.5°E), which were available from the Annual Report of Effort and Catch Statistics by Area on Taiwan Demersal Fish Fisheries published by the Fisheries Agency, Council of Agriculture, Executive Yuan, Taiwan (compiled by Dr. Shean-Ya Yeh, the Demersal Fish Research Center, Institute of Oceanography, National Taiwan University) (Fig.1a). The dataset contains: total catch weight (unit = no. cases; 1 case = 30 kg approximately) for each species in four fishing seasons each year (winter: Jan-March; spring: April-June; summer: July-Sept; fall: Oct-Dec) and year in each of 50 grid cells (dimension 0.5° latitude by 0.5° longitude); and total fishing effort (no. hauls) in each cell in each season and year for boats of 100-200 metric tons (the primary size class participating in the fishery). Data were originally derived from logbook entries and recorded by grid.