EU and UK Marine Fisheries Closed Areas with Restrictions Since 1986

EU, UK, and Scottish legislation defines spatial restrictions on commercial fishing to manage fishing pressures. This dataset depicts those restrictions as polygons from 1986 onward, with some areas considered part of the Marine Protected Area network. The data was published by the Government Digital Service and is for illustrative purposes.

Use Cases

• Mapping fisheries management zones based on legislative restrictions.
• Analyzing spatial overlap between fishing closures and Marine Protected Areas based on the description.
• Studying the evolution of area-based fisheries measures over time based on the 1986 start date.

Strengths

• Legislative coverage spans EU, UK, and Scottish laws.
• Temporal coverage begins in 1986, providing a multi-decade perspective.
• Includes areas considered as contributions to the Marine Protected Area network.

Limitations

• Polygons are simplified for web use and are for illustrative purposes only.
• Row count and file size are unknown, limiting suitability assessment.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.

Provenance

Source

Government Digital Service

Collection Method

Derived from EU, UK, and Scottish legislation.

Time Range

Since 1986

Freshness

Last updated date is unknown; freshness unverified.

Geography

Marine areas under EU, UK, and Scottish jurisdiction