Open Government Licence (OGL)

The requirement to display sensitive areas relating to the life history of commercially important fish species in British waters is well recognized. Sensitive areas have previously been described as spawning and nursery grounds. Here we consider only areas where there is evidence of aggregations of 0 group fish and/or larvae of key commercial species. 0 group fish are defined as fish in the first year of their lives. These fish sensitivity maps were originally generated to provide a spatial and temporal description of where physical damage could potentially occur to fish species at sensitive stages in essential habitats of their life cycle. Sources of damage in this context referred to seismic surveying conducted by the offshore Oil and Gas industry during their site investigations. In addition to the acoustic energy that the seismic survey activities generate, we should now add other percussive impact noises from pile driving seabed foundation pins into the seabed, such as those required for offshore renewable energy sites. The spatial location of these fish life history events and their potential interaction with offshore industries can heavily influence the planning, costs and delivery of these offshore developments. It is imperative that these maps reflect the current extent of these areas.

This layer depicted modelled probability of Haddock in year 0 group.

Scottish underwater TV surveys to estimate Nephrops burrow distribution and abundance, from Nephrops Functional Units of significance to Scotland. Underwater TV footage is taken at specified stations within Functional Units. The underwater camera is mounted on a towed sledge and tow duration is 10 minutes. Records of Nephrops burrows, Nephrops and other benthic fauna is recorded onto DVD for analysis and review. At each station, a custom built sledge is towed along the sea bed and all Nephrops burrow complexes are counted and used to derive density estimates. These estimates are shown in this data layer.

This data was prepared for the report 'Coull, K.A., Johnstone, R., and S.I. Rogers. 1998. Fisheries Sensitivity Maps in British Waters' which includes maps of the main spawning and nursery grounds for 14 commercially important species (cod, haddock, whiting, saithe, Norway pout, blue whiting, mackerel, herring, sprat, sandeels, plaice, lemon sole, sole and Norway lobster).

During the late 1990s, a collaborative project between the national fisheries laboratories (Cefas and the then Fisheries Research Services, Aberdeen), the UK Offshore Operator's Association (UKOOA), the Scottish Fishermen's Association (SFF) and the National Federation of Fishermen's Organisations (NFFO) produced the Fisheries Sensitivity Maps in British Waters.

The data is available from CEFAS via http://data.cefas.co.uk/#/View/149. This layer displays nursery grounds for Saithe.

This data was prepared for the report 'Coull, K.A., Johnstone, R., and S.I. Rogers. 1998. Fisheries Sensitivity Maps in British Waters' which includes maps of the main spawning and nursery grounds for 14 commercially important species (cod, haddock, whiting, saithe, Norway pout, blue whiting, mackerel, herring, sprat, sandeels, plaice, lemon sole, sole and Norway lobster).

During the late 1990s, a collaborative project between the national fisheries laboratories (Cefas and the then Fisheries Research Services, Aberdeen), the UK Offshore Operator's Association (UKOOA), the Scottish Fishermen's Association (SFF) and the National Federation of Fishermen's Organisations (NFFO) produced the Fisheries Sensitivity Maps in British Waters.

The data is available from CEFAS via http://data.cefas.co.uk/#/View/149. This layer displays spawing grounds for Sprat.