EMODnet Human Activities, Fisheries, Fishing Intensity

The datasets on fishing intensity in the EU waters by sea basin are created every year by the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES). In the 2020 Cogea started to collect and harmonize them according to the EMOdnet Human Activities dataset schema. The EMODnet dataset is updated yearly, as soon as new data from ICES Fishing Overviews are released, and is available for viewing and download on the EMODnet web portal (Human Activities, https://emodnet.ec.europa.eu/en/human-activities). Where and when available, the fisheries overview fishing intensity data concern: i) the spatial distribution of average annual fishing effort (mW fishing hours) by ecoregion (Azores, Bay of Biscay and the Iberian Coast, Baltic Sea, Barents Sea, Celtic Seas, Faroes, Greater North Sea, Icelandic Waters, Norwegian Sea and Oceanic Northeast Atlantic) and by gear type (Beam trawls, Bottom otter trawls, Bottom seines, Dredges, Pelagic trawls and seines, Static gears). Fishing effort data are only shown for vessels >12 m having vessel monitoring systems (VMS); ii) the average annual subsurface (top) and surface (bottom) mobile bottom contacting fishing gear (i.e. bottom otter trawls, bottom seines, dredges, beam trawls) disturbance by ecoregion in the Bay of Biscay and the Iberian Coast, Baltic Sea, Barents Sea, Celtic Seas, Faroes, Greater North Sea, Icelandic Waters, Norwegian Sea and Oceanic Northeast Atlantic, expressed as average swept-area ratios (SAR). Due to data confidentiality issues, VMS/logbook data are anonymized and aggregated in a 0.05×0.05 degree grid prior to submission to ICES, using the C-squares geocode system (polygons). The last data loaded into the database, from the ICES 2025 Fishing Overview update or revision (where available), report the 2021-2024 averages. Historical data area also included in the database, starting from the 2020 fishing overview, and reporting the 2015-2018, 2017-2020, 2018-2021, 2019-2020 and 2019-2022 averages.

Data and resources

EMODnet Human Activities

EMODnet Human Activities aims to facilitate access to existing marine data on activities carried out in EU waters, by building a single entry point for…

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EMODnet_HA_Fisheries_FishingIntensity_20260424.zip

ZIP (File Geodatabase)

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fishingbeamtrawls

Average MW Fishing hours: Beam trawls

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fishingbottomottertrawls

Average MW Fishing hours: Bottom otter trawls

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fishingbottomseines

Average MW Fishing hours: Bottom seines

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fishingdredges

Average MW Fishing hours: Dredges

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fishingpelagic

Average MW Fishing hours: Pelagic trawls and seines

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fishingstaticgears

Average MW Fishing hours: Static gears

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fishingsubsurface

Average Subsurface Swept Area Ratio

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fishingsurface

Average Surface Swept Area Ratio

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emodnet:fishingbeamtrawls

Average MW Fishing hours: Beam trawls

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emodnet:fishingbottomottertrawls

Average MW Fishing hours: Bottom otter trawls

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emodnet:fishingbottomseines

Average MW Fishing hours: Bottom seines

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emodnet:fishingdredges

Average MW Fishing hours: Dredges

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emodnet:fishingpelagic

Average MW Fishing hours: Pelagic trawls and seines

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emodnet:fishingstaticgears

Average MW Fishing hours: Static gears

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emodnet:fishingsubsurface

Average Subsurface Swept Area Ratio

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emodnet:fishingsurface

Average Surface Swept Area Ratio

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Additional information

Temporal extent	1950-01-01 – 2016-12-31
Date (creation)	2020-02-16
Date (publication)	2020-02-26
Date (revision)	2026-04-24
Status	onGoing
Update frequency	asNeeded
Metadata language	en
License	Creative Commons Attribution 4.0
Source metadata	ISO 19115 XML
Last updated	2026-11-04
Created	2026-11-04
API	package_show