Biological data summaries for swordfish (Xiphias gladius).

Ministry of Fisheries observers working on tuna longline vessels have collected a time series of quality swordfish length, weight, and sex data from 1987 onwards. Data collected by observers were compared with commercial catch effort data. Length frequencies, length weight relationships, and sex ratios are derived from and presented for swordfish data collected by the Ministry of Fisheries Observer Programme, up to December 2005. The time series of observer length frequency data was formatted and input to the "catch.at.age" software developed by NIWA to derive weighted mean length frequencies. Data were stratified spatially by North and South regions and temporally by year and quarter. Sex:-specific proportions at length are presented by stratum for 2005 with bootstrapped c.v.s. Sex ratios; by size class, were derived from the numbers offish estimated by size class using "catch.at.age".