Scottish Small Vessel Fishing Catch and Position Averages, 2018-2022

2018 to 2022 annual averages of catch weight and value, aggregated into 0.05-degree grid squares within Scottish waters. The data originates from mandatory position declarations by owners or masters of Scottish fishing vessels under 12 meters in length. It is aggregated by the Government Digital Service and categorized by seven fishing sectors, including pots and traps, bottom trawls, and dredges.

Use Cases

• Modeling spatial fishing effort based on declared catch positions aggregated into grid squares.
• Analyzing catch composition and economic value trends across different gear types like pots, trawls, and dredges.
• Assessing potential spatial conflicts or environmental impacts from specific fishing sectors within Scottish waters.

Strengths

• Covers a five-year time range from 2018 to 2022.
• Data is spatially aggregated into standardized 0.05 x 0.05 decimal degree grid cells (C-Squares).
• Includes catch weight and economic value metrics categorized by seven distinct fishing sectors.

Limitations

• Row count and file size are unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Last update date is unknown; freshness unverified.

Provenance

Source

Government Digital Service

Collection Method

Aggregated from mandatory daily position and catch declarations (Fish 1 forms and paper logbooks) by Scottish vessels under 12m.

Time Range

2018 to 2022

Freshness

Data covers up to 2022; last update date for the dataset is unknown.

Geography

Scottish waters