Western Australia Commercial Fisheries Catch and Effort Summaries, 2003-2023

Logbook data from commercial fishers submitted to the WA Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development is aggregated to produce summaries of total catch and effort. The data is mapped at a 0.1-degree resolution for areas with 5 or more boats, with confidential zones for fewer vessels. Summaries cover multi-year financial periods from 2003/04 to 2022/23, including a single-year snapshot for 2022/23.

Use Cases

• Modeling spatial fishing effort distribution based on the 0.1-degree resolution grid.
• Analyzing temporal trends in commercial catch across defined financial year periods (e.g., 2003/04-2007/08).
• Identifying areas of high fishing activity versus confidential zones where fewer than 5 boats operate.

Strengths

• Data is aggregated from mandatory commercial fisher logbooks, suggesting a systematic collection process.
• Spatial summaries are provided at a consistent 0.1-degree resolution for multi-year periods.
• Covers a long temporal range, with data spanning from the 2003/04 to 2022/23 financial years.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Data for areas with fewer than 5 boats is withheld as confidential, creating spatial gaps.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment for large-scale modeling.

Provenance

Source

WA Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development, via the Australian Ocean Data Network.

Collection Method

Aggregated from mandatory commercial fishing logbooks submitted by fishers.

Time Range

Financial year periods: 2003/04-2007/08, 2008/09-2012/13, 2018/19-2022/23, and 2022/23.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-06-05 03:49:49.218452; freshness should be verified.

Geography

State marine and estuarine waters of Western Australia.