Spawning and Nursery Grounds for Selected Fish in UK Waters, 2010

UK waters feature mapped spawning and nursery grounds for selected fish species, based on analyses complementing the 1998 'Fisheries Sensitivity Maps in British Waters'. The data provides supporting evidence and incorporates more recent information available since the original maps were produced. The dataset was published by the Government Digital Service via the EU Open Data platform.

Use Cases

• Identifying areas of high ecological importance for marine conservation planning based on described spawning and nursery grounds.
• Supporting environmental impact assessments for offshore developments using the mapped sensitivity layers.
• Analyzing changes in fish habitat use over time by comparing this 2010 data with older or newer sources.
• Modeling species distribution by integrating the mapped rectangular spawning areas as habitat features.

Strengths

• Builds upon a foundational 1998 study ('Fisheries Sensitivity Maps in British Waters'), providing continuity.
• Explicitly aims to increase the number of species for which maps are available.
• Provides more information on grounds likely to be of greater importance to fish stocks.

Limitations

• Row count, column definitions, and file formats are unknown, limiting suitability assessment.
• Last update date is unknown; freshness unverified.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.

Provenance

Source

Government Digital Service, based on analyses complementing work by Coull, K.A., Johnstone, R., and Rogers, S.I.

Collection Method

Analyses of fisheries data, likely from surveys and scientific reports.

Time Range

2010

Freshness

Data is from 2010; update frequency is unknown.

Geography

UK waters