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 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  

The aim of this work was to document the seasonal and inter-annual dynamic of dissolved oxygen and ancillary data (T, S, Chl-a, turbidity, pH) along a cross-shelf transect off the Gironde estuary. This work has been motivated by recent simulations that suggest the occurrence of seasonal bottom deoxygenations in this River-dominated Ocean Margin (Riomar); but unfortunately there were no data sets to test this hypothesis until now. Profiles of temperature, salinity and dissolved oxygen were performed in the water column of the West Gironde Mud Patch off the Gironde estuary (from 45°46.383’N – 1°28.925’W to 45°35.524’N - 1°50.689’W) during seven cruises on the R/V Côte de la Manche (doi: 10.18142/284 ; 10.17600/18000861) between 2016 and 2021 (October 2016, August 2017, January 2018, April 2018, July 2019, April 2021, October 2021). Turbidity was measured in January and April 2018, July 2019 and October 2021, Chl-a in October 2016, August 2017, January 2018, April 2018 and July 2019 and pH in October 2021. This dataset had permitted to validate the occurrence of bottom deoxygenations when the water column is stratified.

The Arcachon Bay is a unique and ecologically important meso-tidal lagoon on the Atlantic coast of south-west France. The Arcachon Bay has the largest area of dwarf seagrass (Z. noltei) in Europe, the extent of which was stable in their extent between the 1950s and 1990s, but a decline in seagrass was observed in mid-2000. The decline of Zostera (seagrass) may have a significant impact on sedimentation in this coastal ecosystem rich in marine life. Interface cores were collected in September 2022 to determine sediment and mass accumulation rates (SAR, MAR) in the Arcachon Bay. Ten study areas were selected, distributed over most of the areas where seagrass meadows are actually observed. Two sites were visited each time, one with the presence of Zostera noltei in good condition (Healthy) and the other where the sediment was bare (Bare). Maximum water heights during spring tides range from 3.44 m for the deepest site (Garrèche) to 2.09 m for the shallowest site (Fontaines). A total of 20 sediment cores were sampled and carefully extruded every 1 cm from the top to the bottom of the core. The sediment layers were used to determine dry bulk density and selected radioisotope activities: DBD, 210Pb, 226Ra, 137Cs, 228Th and 40K expressed as %K). 

The Pélagiques Gascogne (PELGAS, Doray et al., 2000) integrated survey aims at assessing the biomass of small pelagic fish and monitoring and studying the dynamics and diversity of the Bay of Biscay pelagic ecosystem in springtime. PELGAS has been conducted within the EU Common Fisheries Policy Data Collection Framework and Ifremer’s Fisheries Information System. Details on survey protocols and data processing methodologies can be found in Doray et al., (2014, 2018a). This dataset comprises the biomass (in metric tons) and abundance (in thousands of individuals) of small pelagic fish estimated during the PELGAS survey in the Bay of Biscay in springtime. The dataset also includes the estimation coefficient of variation, derived based on the hydroacoustic methodology described in Doray et al. (2010), and the survey area. Those estimates have been validated by the ICES WGACEGG group and provided to the ICES WGHANSA group for stock assessment purposes. Data have been used in Doray et al., 2018b.

210Pb, 226Ra and 137Cs were measured by non-destructive gamma spectrometry on marine sediment cores, collected during RIKEAU 2002 cruise on board r/v Thalia, on the shelf of the Bay of Biscay

Mesoscale dynamics in the Mediterranean Sea have been investigated for years and anticyclonic eddies are regularly observed features in the Algerian Basin. In early spring 2016, a field experiment during the ProtevsMed 2016 cruise thoroughly investigated this specific eddy, when it was located near the North Balearic Front, taking high-resolution (Seasoar) hydrological transects, several CTD casts and LADCP measurements. In addition, four drifting buoys were released in the eddy core. These in situ measurements revealed that the vertical structure of this anticyclone was made of two water lenses of very different origins (Atlantic Water above and Western Intermediate Water below) spinning together. In the vicinity of the North Balearic Front, which may act as a dynamical barrier for structures, the eddy interacted with a subsurface anticyclonic eddy made of modal water, which fostered cross-front exchanges generating filaments by stirring. The high-resolution sampling revealed fine scales structures both adjacent to the eddy and within its core. The eddy has been targeted from 21 March to 1 April 2016 taking advantage of a meteorological window. It has been sampled with:  - a towed undulating vehicle, the SeaSoar designed and built by Chelsea Instruments; it gets mounted on its sides two Sea-bird SBE-9 (SBE 3 temperature and SBE 4 conductivity sensors)  and a Wetlabs Fluorometer of type ChloroA WetStar  - CTD casts performed with a Sea-bird SBE-9 (SBE 3 temperature and SBE 4 conductivity sensor) and an RDI 150 kHz current profiler mounted in a general oceanics 12-place rosette, with12l Niskin bottles  - drifters with holey-sock positioned at 50 m deep below the expected Ekman layer thickness (remaining in the eddy until mid May).

The dataset includes age- and length-based catch per unit effort data for commercial fish species collected by the French trawl survey EVHOE.

Gironde estuary environmental parameters and SPM maps generated from 41 Landsat-8/OLI and Sentinel-2/MSI images acquired over the period 2013-2018. Except bathymetry and daily river discharge data, that are accessible on public platforms, the dataset includes all of the time seris used in the publication: Analysis of suspended sediment variability in a large highly-turbid estuary using a 5-year-long remotely-sensed data archive at high resolution, Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans, DOI:10.1029/2019JC015417.