Inshore Fishing - ScotMap (2013) - Number of Vessels

ScotMap is a Marine Scotland project which provides spatial information on the fishing activity of Scottish registered commercial fishing vessels under 15 m in overall length. The data were collected during face-to-face interview with individual vessel owners and operators and relate to fishing activity for the period 2007 to 2011. The data are aggregated and analysed to provide information on the monetary value, relative importance (relative value) and the usage (number of fishing vessels and crew) of seas around Scotland.

The dataset, as of July 2013, is based on interviews of 1,090 fishermen. Individuals defined their fishing areas or ‘polygons’ with variable levels of precision. Users of the data should be aware of this, particularly of the coverage provided by the ScotMap data set which varies regionally.

This layer shows the number of vessels and provides information on the spatial extent of fishing as reported during interviews and a representation of fishing intensity i.e. where most boats fish. The number of vessels in each grid cell is the sum of the number of polygons (fishing areas) which overlap the cell.