"This file contains fish specimen information for the whole fish contaminant data collected at estuarine and Great Lakes sites that were sampled for the National Coastal Condition Assessment in 2020, 2021 and 2022."		

Data have been thoroughly reviewed, however they are not considered final until the NCCA Report is published. Data may be updated at any time. The changelog for the associated file may be found below the column name definitions.                                          

End-users are responsible for reviewing the suitability of these data for their purposes.    

"""Please bring any questions about the data to the attention of Hugh Sullivan, NCCA Lead at sullivan.hugh@epa.gov. ""                                             "		
"Please note: Station information (sampling coordinates, site depth, etc.) may be imported from the Site Information files.                                                "		
                                                		
                                      		
                                                		
                                                		
"""For information about NCCA protocols, please check the NCCA 2020 Field Operations Manual, Site Evaluation Guidelines; Lab Operations Manual, and Quality Assurance Project Plan on the NCCA Website: https://www.epa.gov/national-aquatic-resource-surveys/manuals-used-national-aquatic-resource-surveys#National%20Coastal%20Condition%20Assessment""                                         "		
		
		
		
COLUMN_NAME            	Legal Values	Description
UID		Unique identifier for a single sampling event at a site/visit. Use the UID to associate data in the NCCA site info files with  information included in this file.
		
PUBLICATION_DATE		Date the dataset was published by NARS IM         
UNIQUE_ID		Unique site ID based on location. Does not depend on year sampled or any other factor. Follows a unique site through multiple survey designs.  Form is NCA_ss_nnnnn  where ss is state/territory and nnnnn is number that starts at 10001.  No missing values allowed.    
SITE_ID		"NCCA Site ID for the study and year sampled. Preferred form is NCAnn_MM-xxxxx  where  nn is survey cycle year (05, 10, 15, 20, etc), MM is two letter state code, and xxxxx is between 10001 and 99999.  No missing values allowed.  No missing values allowed."
VISIT_NO	  |1|2	"Sequential visit in each year, typically 1 or 2."
DATE_COL	mm/dd/yyyy	Date Collected mm/dd/yyyy
PSTL_CODE		"State two letter postal code for site sampled. 50 state postal codes plus (if applicable) AS, MP, GU, PR, VI for American Samoa, Commonwealth of Northern Marianas, Guam, Puerto Rico and Virgin Islands.  No missing values allowed."
WTBDY_TYPE		Marine or Great Lakes
NCCA_REG	Northeast|Southeast|Gulf|West|Great Lakes|Pacific	"National Coastal Condition Assessment Region.  Northeast includes states ME, NH, MA, RI, CT, NY, NJ, MD, DE, and VA.  Southeast includes NC, SC, GA, and east coast of FL.  No missing values allowed."
SAMPLE_TYPE		Code identifying sample type. FTIS = Ecological (whole fish) sample for ecological fish tissue contaminant index.
NOT_COLLECTED	|Y|N   	Sample was NOT taken at this site (Y= samples was not taken)
SAMPLE_ID		Number identifying the sample
FISH_300	|Y|{blank}	"Does the total mass of the fish composite exceed the requested 300 g minimum? ""Y"" indicates greater than or equal to 300 g; {blank} indicates less than 300 g."
FISH_SIZE	|Y|N	Fish are all within 75% of the largest specimen (Y= all specimen lengths are within 75% of longest fish)
FISH_SPECIES	|Y|N	Fish are all within the same species? (Y= all specimens are of the same species)
MAX_FISH_LEN		Length of longest fish in the composite (mm)
MIN_FISH_LEN		Length of shortest fish in the composite (mm)
NAME_SCI		Genus and Species of specimen
FROZEN	|Y|N	Sample frozen?
ACTUAL_DATE	mm/dd/yyyy	Actual date of fish sample collection. Fish specimen collection date may vary from collection date other samples
LINE		Line Number on fish collcetion field form. Can be used to identify individual speciems in the composite sample if needed.
COMMENT		"Comment explaining NARS_FLAG or other qualifying information, if applicable."
		
		
		
Changelog		
		
Publication Date 
Of Most recent
File Posted to
NARS Data Page 		Change
5/9/2024		    Initial publication
10/25/2024		    file refresh to update values for multiple variables