Data on zooplankton occurrence and abundance in the Far East seas and adjacent Pacific Ocean waters

Abstract. The article describes a unique dataset of zooplankton collected by the large Juday net in the North Pacific – one of the most productive and economically important regions of the world ocean (Volvenko, 2021a https://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.937751): the sources and extent of the information contained therein, its benefits and drawbacks, the first operating experience and prospects. The information in this dataset has already been used to quantify the inventory of marine biological resources and appraise the waters of the Far East seas and adjacent Pacific Ocean. In 2016, five tabular reference books were created and printed containing the species composition, occurrence (samples, %) and abundance (ind./m³, mg/m³) of zooplankton in the surveyed area. The data is aggregated by species, developmental stages, size fractions, standard regions, vertical layers of water, light and dark time of day, four seasons of the year and multi-year periods. This information has recently been verified, corrected, translated into English and from text to digital format, and supplemented by GIS with maps of the standard regions by which data was summarized with their morphometric characteristics (Volvenko, 2021b https://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.937752) to increase its availability to the scientific community worldwide. The scope of application of this data is fundamental to the management of marine resources, aquaculture development, nature conservation, and assessment of the damage of various anthropogenic factors on nature.