EVHOE (« Evaluation Halieutique de l’Ouest Européen ») surveys provide observational data on bentho-demersal communities on the continental shelves of the Bay of Biscay and the Celtic Sea for more than 30 years. The surveys operate a standardized bottom trawling gear and are conducted from 15 to 600 m depth, usually in the fourth quarter of the year, starting at the end of October. The main objectives are the monitoring of 22 commercial stocks of fish species and 10 cephalopods from the North-East Atlantic. The dataset also provide a description of regional diversity, including 250 taxa of fish, 45 taxa of cephalopods and others “commercial” invertebrates and, from 2008, more than 350 other taxa of benthic invertebrates. The acquisition of this dataset, organised by IFREMER, is steered by the IBTS working group organised within the framework of ICES. It is being funded by the European DCMAP programme, in coordination with the French Directorate-General for Maritime Affairs, Fisheries and Aquaculture (DGAMPA). This dataset is of great interest for the long-term monitoring of the continental shelves of the Bay of Biscay and the Celtic Sea. Moreover, on a larger scale, by being integrated into a European network of bottom trawl surveys, these data play an essential role in studying the evolution of ecosystems from continental shelves to the scale of the eastern North Atlantic. From April 2025, the proposed data have been updated in the latest standard format recognised by IFREMER (‘ELFIC’ format). The 5 data tables are compiled in a .zip file which also contains a document detailing the content of each table and their respective data fields.

The West Gironde Mud Patch (WGMP) is a mud deposit located 25 km from the mouth of the Gironde Estuary in the Bay of Biscay. This 4-metre-thick clay-silt feature, which extends over an area of 420 km2, is found at depths between 30 and 80 meters. The main objectives of the JERICObent7 cruise, in July 2019, were to characterise the evolution of the WGMP’s benthic ecosystem in terms of its sedimentary, biogeochemical and ecological properties and to reconstruct climate variations and identify potential anthropogenic impacts over the last few centuries. To this end, a precise chronological framework was established for the sedimentary archives of the last few decades using 210Pbxs (T1/2 = 22.3 years). Interface cores were collected at stations 1, 3 and 4 along a cross-shelf transect. Twin Kullenberg cores were collected at sites 3 and 4 for geochemical (KGL) and palaeoceanographic (JB7-ST) investigations. Each interface core was carefully extruded at 0.5 cm intervals from the top of the core to 4 cm, and then at 1 cm intervals until the bottom was reached. Kullenberg cores were only collected at sites 3 and 4. Depending on their intended use, the Kullenberg cores were sampled at different resolutions, the depth of each sediment layer corresponded to the depth from the top of the core. These layers were then used to determine the dry bulk density and radioisotope activities of interest (210Pb, 226Ra,  228Th, 137Cs, 40K). Excess 210Pb was used to establish the realignment and chronological framework of the interface and Kullenberg cores.

Particularly suited to the purpose of measuring the sensitivity of benthic communities to trawling, a trawl disturbance indicator (de Juan and Demestre, 2012, de Juan et al. 2009) was proposed based on benthic species life history traits to evaluate the sensibility of mega- and epifaunal community to fishing pressure known to have a physical impact on the seafloor (such as dredging and bottom trawling). The selected biological traits were chosen as they determine vulnerability to trawling: mobility, fragility, position on substrata, average size and feeding mode that can easily be related to the fragility, recoverability and vulnerability ecological concepts. Life history traits of species have been defined from the BIOTIC database (MARLIN, 2014) and from information given by Le Pape et al. (2007), Brindamour et al. (2009) and Garcia (2010). For missing life history traits, additional information from literature has been considered. The five categories retained are life history functional traits that were selected based on the knowledge of the response of benthic taxa to trawling disturbance (de Juan and Demestre, 2012). They reflect respectively the possibility to avoid direct gear impact, to benefit from trawling for feeding, to escape gear, to get caught by the net and to resist trawling/dredging action, each of these characteristics being either advantageous or sensitive to trawling. Then, to allow quantitative analysis, a score was assigned to each category: from low vulnerability (0) to high vulnerability (3). The five categories scores were then summed for each taxon (the highly vulnerable taxon could reach the maximum score is 15) and this value may be considered as a species index of sensitivity to trawling disturbance. The scores of 773 taxa commonly found in bottom trawl by-catch in the southern North Sea, English Channel and north-western Mediterranean were described.

The French Atlantic coast hosts numerous macrotidal and turbid estuaries that flow into the Bay of Biscay that are natural corridors for migratory fishes. The two best known are those of the Gironde and the Loire. However, there are also a dozen estuaries set geographically among them, of a smaller scale. The physico-chemical quality of estuarine waters is a necessary support element for biological life and determines the distribution of species, on which many ecosystem services (e.g. professional or recreational fishing) depend. With rising temperatures and water levels, declining precipitation and population growth projected for the New Aquitaine region by 2030, the question of how the quality and ecological status of estuarine waters will evolve becomes increasingly critical. The MAGEST (Mesures Automatisées pour l’observation et la Gestion des ESTuaires nord aquitains) high-frequency monitoring of key physico-chemical parameters was first developed in the Gironde estuary in 2004 ; the Seudre and Charente estuaries were instrumented late 2020. First based on real-time automated systems, MAGEST is now equipped by autonomous multiparameter sensors. Depending of the stations, an optode is also deployed to secure dissolved oxygen measurement. By the end of 2020, MAGEST had 12 instrumented sites. Portets is a measuring station located in the upper Gironde estuary (Garonne subestuary, about 20 km upstream of the Bordeaux metropolis.

This folder contains two examples of PAGURE datasets, corresponding to three surveys: -CGFS conducted in 2018 in the English Channel (Northeast Atlantic) -EPIBENGOL conducted in 2019 in the Gulf of Lion (Western Mediterranean) -EVHOE conducted in 2020 in the Bay of Biscay and Celtic Shelf (Northeast Atlantic) Files include metadata for the sampling stations, annotation files. A readme tex file contains the links to the voyage metadata This folder is aimed at providing an example of documented underwater imagery dataset. These data are part of the data exchange conducted in the QuatreA collaboration between the French Research Institute for the Exploitation of the Sea (Ifremer), the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), and the University of Tasmania (UTAS).

We genotyped 1680 thornback ray Raja clavata sampled in the Bay of Biscay using a DNA chip described in Le Cam et al. (2019). After quality control 4604 SNPs were retained for identifying potential sex-linked SNPs using three methods: i) identification of excess of heterozygotes in one sex, ii) FST outlier analysis between the two sexes and iii) neuronal net modelling. Genotype coding: 0 homozygous for major allele, 1 heterozygous, 2 homozygous for minor allele. Flanking DNA sequences of SNPs identified with methods i) and ii) are also provided.  

Data collected by the Spindrift 2 Sails of Change vessel during its attempt at the round-the-world sailing record, the Jules Verne Trophy. More information at https://spindrift-racing.com/fr/.

Bivalves carbon and nitrogen elemental and isotopic ratios (δ13C, δ15N, C and N%, C:N) times series (1981-2021) from 33 sites in France. Bivalve species are the Pacific oyster Crassostrea gigas, and the mussels Mytilus edulis and Mytilus galloprovincialis. This extensive dataset offers a comprehensive view spanning multiple decades and ecosystems, allowing to track how coastal ecosystems and marine species record changing climate, physical-chemical environments and organic matter cycles. This dataset may also be used to study bivalve physiology. Additionally, these data are crucial for establishing isotope baselines for studying food webs. Ultimately, this data set provide valuable information for more effective ecosystem conservation and management strategies in our rapidly changing world.

The network was initiated by IFREMER from 1993 to 2009 (under the acronym REMORA) to study the rearing performance of the Pacific oyster Crassostrea gigas at a national scale. To do so, the network monitored annually the mortality and growth of standardized batches of 18-month-old oysters. Starting in 1995, the monitoring of the rearing performance of 6-month-old oyster spat was integrated into this network. These sentinel batches were distributed simultaneously each year on 43 sites and were monitored quarterly. These sites were distributed over the main French oyster farming areas and allowed a national coverage of the multiannual evolution of oyster farming performances. Most of the sites were located on the foreshore at comparable levels of immersion. Field studies were carried out by the "Laboratoires Environnement Ressources" (LER) for the sites included in their geographical area of investigation. Following the increase in spat mortality in 2008, the network evolved in 2009 (under the acronym RESCO). From this date, the network selected 13 sites among the 43 sites previously monitored in order to increase the frequency of visits (twice a month) and the number of sentinel batches. More precisely, sentinel batches of oysters corresponding to different origins (wild or hatchery, diploid or triploid) and to two rearing age classes (spat or 18-month-old adults) were selected. The monitoring of environmental variables (temperature, salinity) associated with the 13 sites was also implemented. The actions of the network have thus contributed to disentangle the biotic and abiotic parameters involved in mortality phenomena, taking into account the different compartments (environment / host / infectious agents) likely to interact with the evolution of oyster rearing performance. Finally, since 2015, the network has merged the RESCO and VELYGER networks to adopt the acronym ECOSCOPA. The general objective of this current network is to analyze the causes of spatio-temporal variability of the main life traits (Larval stage - Recruitment - Reproduction - Growth - Survival - Cytogenetic abnormalities) of the cupped oyster in France and to follow their evolution on the long term in the context of climate change. To do this, the network proposes a regular spatio-temporal monitoring of the major proxies of the life cycle of the oyster, organized in three major thematic groups: (1) proxies related to growth, physiological tolerance and survival of experimental sentinel populations over 3 age classes: (2) proxies related to reproduction, larval phase and recruitment of the species throughout its natural range in France, and: (3) proxies related to environmental parameters essential to the species (weather conditions, temperature, salinity, pH, turbidity, chlorophyll a and phytoplankton) at daily or sub-hourly frequencies. Working in a geographical network associating several laboratories, ECOSCOPA provide these monitoring within 8 sites selected among the previous ones to ensure the continuity of the data acquisition. Today, these 8 sites are considered as ecosystems of common interest, contrasted, namely : - The Thau lagoon - The Arcachon basin - The Marennes Oléron basin - The Bourgneuf Bay - The bay of Vilaine - The bay of Brest - The bay of Mont Saint Michel - The bay of Veys The ECOSCOPA network is therefore one of the relevant monitoring tools on a national scale, allowing to objectively measure through different proxies the general state of health of cultivated and wild oyster populations, and this for the different sensitive phases of their life cycle. This network aims at allowing a better evaluation, on the long term, of the biological risks incurred by the sector but also by the ecosystems, in particular under the increasing constraint of climatic and anthropic changes. Figure : Sites monitored by the ECOSCOPA network  

Tracking data of 7 grey seals were obtained from the deployment of Fastloc GPS/GSM tags developed by the Sea Mammal Research Unit (UK). Full tag description is available at: http://www.smru.st-andrews.ac.uk/Instrumentation/GPSPhoneTag/. The tags include a wet-dry sensor from which haulout events are recorded, a pressure sensor providing detailed dive data, as well as a Fastloc GPS recording irregular locations when the seal is not underwater. Data is stored onboard and transmitted via the GSM network when the seal is in the reception range. The data provided here are the individual GPS locations of the seals fitted with these tags for an average duration of 135 days.