MB0126: Seabird Bycatch Risk Assessment Layers for UK Waters

UK waters are covered by shapefile layers supporting a seabird bycatch risk assessment project. The data includes seabird foraging ranges, predicted densities with confidence values, fishing effort from 2009 to 2013, and calculated vulnerability and risk layers for surface, pelagic, and benthic gear. It was compiled by WWT Consulting for project MB0126 and published by the UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

Use Cases

• Model seabird bycatch risk based on the product of vulnerability layers and fisheries effort layers.
• Analyze seasonal (summer/winter) fishing pressure on seabirds using effort data summarized by gear type and depth.
• Map predicted seabird densities and associated confidence values from MRSea and SeaMaST modelling on a 3km grid.
• Identify overlap between marine waterbird Special Protection Areas and areas of high fishing activity.

Strengths

• Includes multiple integrated data layers (density predictions, fishing effort, vulnerability, risk) for a comprehensive spatial analysis.
• Provides seasonal breakdowns (summer and winter) for survey effort, fishing effort, density, and risk calculations.
• Covers a defined time period for fishing effort data (2009 to 2013).
• Uses a standardized 3km x 3km prediction grid for spatial consistency across layers.

Limitations

• Description metadata is limited; actual data quality requires manual inspection after download.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.

Provenance

Source

WWT Consulting, compiled for UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs project MB0126.

Collection Method

Modelling (MRSea by CREEM, SeaMaST) and spatial analysis of survey and fishing effort data.

Time Range

Fishing effort data covers 2009-2013; other layers temporal coverage is not specified.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-06-29 22:05:42.489392; freshness should be verified.

Geography

UK waters.