4 Table Summaries

The tables can be summarised into the following four categories:

4.1 Main tables

The following tables contain the information provided by the fish spotting pilots and the companies they are employed by:



1. t_flight_group

- reference information for a group of flights

2. t_flight - flight

- duration data and information on takeoff and landing airfields

3. t_school_sight

- data on the fish spotted, including time, location and estimates of the amount

4. t_set

- data on the sets made on schools by fishing vessels.

5. t_flightpath

- information on the areas flown and the amount of time elapsed in each.



4.2 Code tables

The following tables enable decoding of the numeric codes used in the main tables, allows grouping of the data in useful ways, and provides textual descriptions of some of the encoded data:



1. t_pilot_code

- decoding data for the pilot codes used in t_flight_group

2. t_customer_code

- decoding data for the customer codes used in t_flight_group

3. t_aircraft_code

- decoding data for the aircraft codes used in t_flight_group

4. t_vessel_code

- decoding data for the vessel codes used in t_flight_group

5. t_airfield_code

- decoding data for the takeoff and landing airfield codes used in t_flight

6. t_species_code

- decoding data for the species codes used in t_school_sight and a system for selecting mixed schools of the 5 main species


7

. t_sea_cond_code

- decoding data for the sea condition codes used in t_school_sight and a grouping code enabling selection of pre-11/85 data according to the new codes

8. t_grid_code

- various sets of grouping codes enabling the selection of data by particular area formats

e.g., QMA, KAH FMA etc.

9. t_grid_description

- descriptions of the location and grid codes used in t_school_sight and t_flightpath.



4.3 Time tables

The following tables provide methods of grouping data by time:



1.t_flt_days

- enables selection of data according to various time series (e.g., day of the year, Julian day etc.)

2. t_time

- similar data to those contained in t_flt_days but includes all days since the beginning of the database through 12/95 - this allows reference to days where no flying was done (useful in some estimates of search effort) and enables update of t_flt_days



4.4 Environmental tables

The following tables provide useful environmental data:



1. t_soi

- a monthly time series of southern oscillation indices for the period of the database, for use in analyses requiring environmental variables

2. t_astro_gen

- times of sun- and moon-rise and various other astronomical data

3. t_astro_moon

- moon cycle data

4. t_astro_sun

- sun cycle data.


Updated : 16 November 2007