In 2024, the Marine Institute published the Atlas of Commercial Fisheries around Ireland, fourth edition. This atlas provides a series of detailed maps of commercial fishing activity around Ireland with the aim of providing insights into fishing activities and fisheries resources. The atlas contains maps of: Fishing effort by vessels of all nationalities by gear type inside the Irish Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ); Fishing effort by Irish vessels gear type in all areas where it takes place for each; Landings taken by Irish vessels for the main commercially exploited species. The atlas is the fourth of its kind and is based on data from fishing vessels of =12m in length over the period 2018-2022. The vessel monitoring and logbook data that form the basis of the maps were collected under Council Regulation (EC) No. 1224/2009 and were aggregated and processed by the Marine Institute. Fishing is one of the most significant ocean uses in the waters around Ireland. However, the ocean is a shared resource and detailed spatial information on fishing activity is particularly relevant in the context of Ireland’s commitments to offshore wind energy and marine protected areas. The fisheries in Irish waters are highly diverse. A large part of this heterogeneity in the fisheries can be explained by spatial patterns in the availability of the target species and in this Atlas we aim to give insights into these fisheries by providing maps of fishing activities and landings of the most important fish and shellfish species. The maps produced for this atlas are available for download as geoTIFF files below.

An updated version of the data has also been included since the publication of the 'Atlas of Commercial Fisheries around Ireland, Fourth Edition 2024' to include 2019 - 2023 data and 2020-2024 data.”

Suggested Citation: Gerritsen, Hans. (2024) Atlas of Commercial Fisheries around Ireland, Fourth Edition 2024. Marine Institute. doi: 10/mfb7