Commercial Fishing Harvest and Value Grids for British Columbia

Gridded data shows the spatial distribution of commercial fishing harvest and landed values in British Columbia's exclusive economic zone on a 1km x 1km planning grid. The dataset aggregates annual average landed weight in kilograms and landed catch values in 2016 Canadian dollars for 13 distinct fisheries, with time series spanning 5 to 10 years depending on the fishery. Data originates from logbook records and fish slips submitted to Fisheries and Oceans Canada by commercial fishing fleets.

Use Cases

• Analyze the spatial distribution of annual average landed weight across 1km x 1km planning units for fisheries like Halibut or Sablefish.
• Model landed catch values in 2016 CAD dollars against fishery type and time period to assess economic trends.
• Apply the privacy Rule of Five filter to identify planning units with sufficient unique vessel data for reliable aggregation.
• Integrate the gridded fishery data with the DFO_marine_bioregions_NSB_subregions polygon layer for regional marine spatial planning.
• Compare harvest patterns between different gear types, such as Bottom trawl and Prawn trap, using the aggregated fishery statistics.

Strengths

• Data is aggregated over substantial time periods, ranging from 5 to 10 years per fishery, providing multi-year averages.
• Includes 13 distinct commercial fisheries, covering diverse species and gear types from Bottom trawl to Geoduck.
• Applies a privacy Rule of Five to each 1km x 1km planning unit to protect proprietary information while preserving aggregate trends.
• Provides data in both tabular and geospatial formats (CSV, GeoDB) with accompanying marine bioregion boundaries for spatial analysis.

Limitations

• Specific row counts, column details, and sample data are unavailable, limiting pre-download assessment of data structure and volume.
• Data recency varies by fishery, with some series ending in 2015 or 2016, potentially missing recent trends.
• The privacy filtering averages data from planning units with fewer than 5 unique vessels, which may obscure localized fishing activity.

Provenance

Source

Fisheries and Oceans Canada.

Collection Method

Created from commercial fishing logbook records matched to prices from fish slips submitted by fleet participants.

Time Range

Varies by fishery, ranging from 2006 to 2016 (e.g., Bottom trawl: 2012-2016; Shrimp by trawl: 2007-2016).

Freshness

Metadata was last updated in March 2026, but the underlying data time series end between 2015 and 2016.

Geography

British Columbia, within Canada's exclusive economic zone (EEZ).