1996 ICES coordinated acoustic survey of ICES Divisions IIIa, IVa, IVb and VIa

Summary: Seven surveys were carried out during late June and July covering most of the continental shelf north of 54°N in the North Sea and lreland to the west of Scotland to a northern limit of 62°N. The eastern edge of the survey area is bounded by the Norwegian and Danish coasts, and to the west by the Shelf edge between 200 and 400 m depth. The surveys are reported individually, and a combined report has been prepared from the data from all seven surveys. The combined survey results provide spatial distributions of herring abundance by number and biomass at age by stat rectangle