This collection presents data associated with the following report:

Cairns, D.K. 2020. Landings, abundance indicators, and biological data for a potential range-wide American eel stock assessment. Canadian Data Report of Fisheries and Aquatic Science. No. 1311: v + 180 pp.

Much of the data collection is from the Atlantic Provinces of Canada, particularly the Southern Gulf of St. Lawrence. The collection also includes data from elsewhere in the American eel's range in Canada, and also the United States and the Caribbean Basin.

Files in the collection are as follows.

Cairns2020_AnnexA_ReportTables.xlsx: This Excel file (file size 756 kb) contains all 37 tables in Cairns (2020) exactly as they appear in the report.

Cairns2020_AnnexB_EelLengthsAgesEfishingRecords.xlsx: This Excel file (file size 3.1 mb) contains 20,047 records of American eel lengths and other biological data from the Canadian Atlantic Provinces, 1983-2017. Records include weights of 8,915 eels and ages of 2,212 eels. Records of 3,224 electrofishing sessions in the Miramichi River, New Brunswick, 1952-2019, and records of 2,590 electrofishing sessions in the Restigouche River, New Brunswick, 1972-2019 are included.

Cairns2020_AnnexC_EelLengthsAgesDataDefinitions.csv: This .csv file (file size 4 kb) gives data definitions in English and French for the table of eel lengths and other biological data that is contained in Cairns2020_AnnexB_EelLengthsAgesEfishingRecords.xlsx and in Cairns2020_AnnexD_EelLengthsAges.csv.

Cairns2020_AnnexD_EelLengthsAges.csv: This file (file size 2.0 mb) presents in .csv format the table of eel lengths and other biological data that is also presented in Cairns2020_AnnexB_EelLengthsAgesEfishingRecords.xlsx.

Cairns2020_AnnexE_EelEFishingDataDefinitions.csv: This .csv file (file size 2 kb) gives data definitions in English and French for the table of eel electrofishing data that is contained in Cairns2020_AnnexB_EelLengthsAgesEfishingRecords.xlsx and in Cairns2020_AnnexD_EelLengthsAges.csv.

Cairns2020_AnnexF_EelEFishing.csv: This file (file size 314 kb) presents in .csv format the table of eel electrofishing data that is also presented in Cairns2020_AnnexB_EelLengthsAgesEfishingRecords.xlsx.

Cairns2020_AnnexG_OtolithImageMetadata.csv: This .csv file (file size 2 kb) provides metadata for the collection of eel otolith images.

Files with names starting with EelOtos . . . . : These .tif, .jpg, and .bmp image files are in zipped format with a summed size of 5.3 gb. The files give magnified photos of 1,838 eel otoliths that have been prepared for age reading. Samples are from the Atlantic Provinces of Canada. Individual otolith codes in Cairns2020_AnnexB_EelLengthsAgesEfishingRecords.xlsx and in Cairns2020_AnnexC_EelLengthsAgesDataDefinitions.csv match the codes embedded in otolith image filenames.