Maritimes Fisheries Catch Weight Landings 2014-2018

Fisheries and Oceans Canada provides commercial fisheries catch weight landings data for the Scotian Shelf, Bay of Fundy, and Georges Bank from 2014 to 2018. The data aggregates catch weight per 10 km² hexagon for 38 distinct species groups and gear types, including Atlantic Halibut, Bluefin Tuna, Redfish, and Scallop. It is intended for coastal and ocean management decision-making.

Use Cases

• Map catch weight per 10 km² hexagon for species like Atlantic Cod or Snow Crab to identify high-density fishing grounds.
• Compare quarterly catch composites for Groundfish or Scallop to analyze seasonal fishing patterns.
• Analyze catch distributions for gear types such as Groundfish Bottom Trawl and Gillnet to assess fishing pressure.
• Aggregate catch data for species groupings like Flatfish or Large Pelagics to support marine spatial planning.
• Use the five-year composite maps for species like Redfish or Swordfish in ecological risk assessments.

Strengths

• Covers 38 distinct species, species groupings, and gear types, including specific entries for Atlantic Halibut and Bluefin Tuna.
• Provides five years of aggregated data from 2014 to 2018 for temporal analysis.
• Spatial data is aggregated per 10 km² hexagon grid cell for precise geographic mapping.
• Data is filtered for privacy, withholding information from areas with fewer than five vessel, licence, or fisher IDs.

Limitations

• Specific row counts, column details, and dataset size are unknown, limiting assessment of analytical scope.
• Privacy filtering may create data gaps in NAFO unit areas, potentially omitting some catch locations.
• Data is static, covering only a five-year period ending in 2018, and may not reflect current conditions.

Provenance

Source

Fisheries and Oceans Canada

Collection Method

Commercial fisheries catch records aggregated and mapped, with privacy assessments applied.

Time Range

2014–2018

Freshness

Last updated metadata indicates 2026-03-24, but the underlying data covers 2014-2018.

Geography

Scotian Shelf, Bay of Fundy, Georges Bank (NAFO Divisions 4VWX, Canadian portions of 5Y, 5Z); also includes Atlantic Canadian inter-regional maps for Divisions 4RST, 3KLMNOP, and 2GHJ.