Processed CTD continuous observations from the West Coast Hake Biomass on the Africana Voyage 039, January 1986

This is processed downcast Conductivity-Temperature-Depth (CTD) continuous data from the West Coast Hake Biomass on the Africana Voyage 039, collected between 08 January and 05 February 1986. The cruise operated in the Benguela Current Large Marine Ecosystem (BCLME) region on the west coast of South Africa. The objectives of this cruise were to survey by means of trawling the abundance of adult and recruiting hake; to investigate the diurnal cycle of hake and other demersal species; to investigate the environment and ecological interrelationships of hake and other demersal species; to carry out acoustic target identification of mesopelagic species with RMT 8 nets; to make a few experimental trawls in deep water to search for the other species of monkfish and to determine the offshore limit of hake distribution; if possible to rendezvous with Spanish and Soviet vessels and to carry out standardisation trawls in parallel and to conduct net mouth-opening experiments with transducers on each wing of the net.