IOW Natural History & Archaeological Society Marine Records

Quality Control

Data have only been updated and maintained sporadically and should not be regarded as having comprehensive geographic or taxonomic coverage. Most of the species are easily identifiable and records are validated by local experts. A significant proportion of the records originate from professional surveys.

Method steps

1. Most of the records were collected by amateur and commercial fishermen. Some of the records come from local experts through local recording groups and others through scientific research papers. Therefore the methods of data capture will vary from one record to the next.

The dataset covers the waters around the Isle of Wight, including the Solent. The records are largely ad-hoc and coverage is incomplete. The records in this dataset were provided with four or six figure grid-references but these grid references refer to the approximate central location of sites and hence may not represent the actual location of the species occurrence.