The Continuous Plankton Recorder (CPR) is towed by a fishing vessel in coastal and oceanic waters from the South Island, NZ to the Ross Sea, Antarctica. It provides data on plankton numbers every 5 nautical miles at a depth of about 10 m. These data provide temporal and spatial distributions of plankton over a variety of water masses and is a valuable tool in identifying changes in community composition. These data also contribute to the Global Alliance of CPR Surveys and the Southern Ocean CPR Survey.

Minimum identifiable size is 400micron (0.4mm) Aperture size of sampling device is 12.5mm.

Sampling frequency: annual. Data collection is ongoing.

Number of samples: 945 completed

Positional accuracy: 5 nautical miles

Depths sampled: 0-10 m.

Quality assurance was imposed in the methods.

The taxonomic analysis of plankton was undertaken at NIWA Christchurch.