The datasets here were used to determine annual sentinel fish species and trait composition in Lake Erie's western and central basins during 1969–2018 in relation to multiple anthropogenic stressors. Here, we provide three datasets, which are used in the paper by Sinclair et al. titled: "Functional traits reveal the dominant drivers of long-term community change across a North American Great Lake". Each dataset is provided as a separate tab in a single Excel worksheet. The first dataset ("Western basin") provides the annual catch-per-unit-effort (CPUE; individuals per trawl minute) for all sentinel fish species caught in Lake Erie's western basin during 1969–2018 in fall (September-October) trawl surveys conducted by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources - Division of Wildlife. The second dataset ("Central basin") provides the CPUE values for Lake Erie's central basin. The third dataset ("Environmental stressors") provides the annual values for nutrient inputs, water transparency, temperature, white perch abundances, and goby abundances for the western and central basins. A summary and explanation of each variable are also provided in the "Info" tab. Further information on how fish CPUE and stressor values were calculated is provided in the methods and supporting information of the associated article.

Please refer to the associated article for data collection methods.

Please refer to the associated article for information on variable transformations and data usage.