Processed CTD continuous observations from the West Coast Hake Biomass Survey on the Africana Voyage 050, January 1987

Here we present processed downcast Conductivity-Temperature-Depth (CTD) continuous data collected between 06 January and 31 January 1987, during the West Coast Hake Biomass Cruise on the Africana Voyage 050, in the Benguela Current Large Marine Ecosystem (BCLME) region on the west coast of South Africa. Neil Brown MK3 and MK4 CTD instruments were used to measure pressure, temperature and conductivity through the water column during research and monitoring cruises between 1983 and 2000. The objectives of the cruise were to survey by means of trawling the abundance of adult and recruiting hake; to investigate the the diurnal cycle of hake and other demersal species; to investigate the environment and interrelationships of hake and other demersal species; to establish the offshore limit of hake and monkfish distribution and to collect deep-water specimens of fish and cephalopods; to conduct mouth-opening experiments with transducers on each wing of the net, and to compare the mouth opening and fishing capabilities of V doors and Polyvalent doors; to study community interrelationships and assemblages and to collect data on hake and other species from the International Commission for the South-East Atlantic Fisheries (ICSEAF) Division 1.5, ie: north of the South African border.