From 1997 to 2008, a research programme to determine if fish assemblages in the New Zealand region could be classified into clearly identifiable communities based on their associations with each other and with environmental features was undertaken. The programme resulted in the creation of the Fish Communities Database, from which this dataset was extracted. The dataset includes records from 1964 to 2008. These data have been used to show geographical and depth distributions of species from all research tows within the New Zealand EEZ since 2008.

This dataset contains data from research trawls that have occurred since 2008 and are stored the NIWA/MPI Trawl database These data results from data collected by research trawl surveys on research vessels and chartered commercial fishing vessels. Trawl surveys are a major tool used by research scientists for stock assessment. They are used to estimate basic parameters of commercial fish populations, including biomass, sex ratio, and the proportion of sexually mature fish, and the distribution of ages and lengths in the population. These parameters may be used in estimating mortality and growth rates. This dataset is a continuation of data from the NIWA/MPI Trawl database that was initially released as the New Zealand fish and squid distributions from research bottom trawls 1964-2008 available at https://nzobisipt.niwa.co.nz/resource?r=obisprovider