In February 1998, the Minister of State at the Department of the Marine requested that the Marine Institute, the Central Fisheries Board and the Salmon Research Agency review the effectiveness of the national sea trout research and monitoring programmes. It was agreed to review the scientific database, methodologies and data collection/ collation, identify steps to address any unidentified deficiencies in the programme techniques, and re-run data analysis in light of the previously commissioned independent reports and any subsequent responses from the various agencies involved in data collection. A thorough re-examination of the sea lice sampling programme, including changes and improvements made since 1997, for sea trout was carried out and suggestions for improvements in this programme were made. A comprehensive examination of the sea lice/sea trout was carried out in light of the independent reports which identified discrepancies in the original data.

This Atlas presents the key results from the Irish groundfish survey programme which is carried out annually in the waters around Ireland, and the Deepwater programme conducted between 2006 and 2009. The various groundfish surveys are described together with the gear used and the areas surveyed. A short note on the biology of each species is given together with their catch length profile and growth curve (size of 1 year olds; two year olds; etc.). The abundance and distribution of the main commercial and non commercial fish species caught on the surveys are mapped, and the catches over time are plotted. Two case studies are used to illustrate the application of survey data.