Trawl-survey data from the Pipeta programme in the Northern Adriatic Sea (Mediterranean) collected in 1988 and 1991

The “Pipeta programme” (named after the Italian commercial trawler used; 300 HP; LOA = 26 m) was started in 1982 by the Laboratory of Marine Biology and Fisheries (LMBF, Italy) and the Institute of Oceanography and Fisheries (IOF, Croatia). The expedition was a fishery-independent trawl-survey of the demersal communities using a bottom otter-trawl net (wing mesh-size: 55 mm; cod-end mesh-size: 22 mm; foot-rope length: 41 m; head-rope length: 32 m). The average towing speed was about 3.5 knots, and the sampling duration was 60 minutes for almost all hauls, with the exception of one haul (sampling duration of 15 minutes). Two successive trawl hauls were performed at each station, with the second towing frequently performed along the same distance but in the opposite direction. Data per stations are given as the mean value of two replicates. The survey was successively named GRUND programme and ended in 2007. This dataset includes a subset of 26 stations (Northern Adriatic Sea) for the years 1988 (January and October) and 1991 (January) from the “Pipeta programme”. CPUE (kg/h) indexes for 166 demersal and benthic species (1,807 records) and information on sediment type are reported. The depth of each station was extracted from the EMODnet Digital Bathymetry. Species synonymies were updated according to the World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS). Some species are grouped into multispecies categories that group taxonomically similar species, i.e. species of the same genus or family (e.g. Raja spp., Triglidae).