This practice may lead to biases in results and misdirected fishery management actions. To address intermediate steps between data collection and any analysis used to inform stock status, this manual provides guidance on how to prepare, explore and critically review fishery data in data-limited situations. Throughout the manual, guidance and sample data are provided primarily in Microsoft Excel or in comma separated value (CSV) file formats, as well as through FishualizeR, a publicly available, web-based, R Shiny app that was developed to support the manual. Instructions in this manual are not intended to present a single, prescriptive path, but rather to provide guidance that may be further tailored to each individual context. It is the authors' hope and intent that the guidance contained in this manual will allow users to better understand their data, make corrections, and gain a deeper understanding of the data's utility in assessment and management of data-limited fisheries.