Open Government Licence (OGL)

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 2017 and 2021, 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
"Other" - e.g. set nets; diving; hand gathering etc

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. 

Fishing pressures can be managed using spatial measures such as prohibiting or restricting certain types of fishing, target species, or vessel capacity. This dataset depicts areas where fishing with BOTTOM CONTACTING MOBILE GEAR is prohibited by EU, UK and Scottish legislation since 1986. Polygons were simplified for web use and are for illustrative purposes only. Guidance should be sought from Fishery Offices on interpreting legislation.

Bottom contacting mobile gear includes trawls, seines, and dredges.  Management areas are included for vulnerable marine ecosystems, and deep sea corals.  These deep sea areas do not specifically prohibit dredging, but cover areas of sea too deep for dredging to take place.

The European Diploma is an award established by the Council of Europe under Regulation (65) 6 of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe of 6 March 1965 for certain landscapes, reserves and protected national features, and Resolution (73) 4 of 19 January 1973 on the Regulations for the European Diploma (amended and revised by Resolution (88) 39 of 5 December 1988, (89) 12 of 19 June 1989 and (91) 16 of 17 June 1989). By awarding the European Diploma, the Council of Europe recognises that the area is of particular European interest for natural-heritage and that the area is properly protected. The Diploma can be awarded to national parks, nature reserves or natural areas, sites or features. The award is for a five-year period. Annual reports are required for each area, and the renewal of the award at 5 years is only made after independent assessment of the site. The Diploma can be withdrawn at any time if the area comes under threat or suffers serious damage.

The Geological Conservation Review (GCR) is the register of known nationally and internationally important Earth science (geological and geomorphological) sites in Great Britain.
The GCR underpins designation of Earth science features in Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs). The majority of GCR sites, therefore, now have statutory protection through designation as notified features in SSSIs. In these cases the GCR site boundary indicates the extent of the Earth science interest within the SSSI. Some GCR sites, however, remain unnotified and are known as unnotified GCR sites.
National Park Authorities and some Local Authorities treat these as candidate SSSIs and afford them the same protection as SSSIs. Some unnotified GCR sites are also Local Geodiversity Sites (LGS), and as such they are afforded levels of protection appropriate to locally important sites (though they are, themselves, considered to be of national or international importance).
The remaining unnotified GCR sites have no statutory protection, although they are considered to be sites of national or international importance. Initially developed between 1977 and 1990, the GCR network is periodically updated and this dataset is subject to change. Boundaries of GCR sites are often not co-incident with SSSIs.
Captured to old version of OSMM (the same one as SSSIs) so will need to be adjusted to PAI.