Owners or masters of Scottish fishing vessels under 12m overall length must declare a latitude and longitude position (DD MM) on each fishing day indicating where the majority of the catch was taken. This data has been recorded since 2016 for vessels submitting Fish 1 forms and from 2018 onwards for vessels submitting paper logbooks.
This dataset aggregates the positions declared between 2018 and 2022, along with the associated catch weight and values, into C-Squares of 0.05 x 0.05 decimal degrees. The data is grouped into sectors of
"Pots and traps" - e.g. creels for crabs, lobsters, or Nephrops; whelk pots; or wrasse traps
"Bottom trawls" - e.g. bottom trawls for Nephrops, squid, or demersal fish
"Dredges" - e.g. dredging for bivalve molluscs such as scallops and surf clams
"Rod and lines"- e.g. handlines or jigging for mackerel; set lines for demersal fish
"Set nets" - e.g. set nets for demersal fish or crustaceans
"Diving or hand gathering" - e.g. scallop diving, but excluding the razor fish trial
"Other" - e.g. anything else
This data includes catches of razor clams up until 1st February 2018. Since this date, only vessels involved in the scientific trial can land razor clams. Data will be published on these vessels once the trial is complete.
