Bycatch risk of threatened and protected marine species in China's seas and adjacent waters

This collection provides data products for evaluating fishing impacts on threatened and protected marine species in China's seas and adjacent waters. Data Components: Species data: Predictive distribution maps of threatened and protected marine species generated using MaxEnt models, accompanied by species list and the ODMAP protocol. Fishing data: Aggregated fishing duration data grouped by fishing gear type, representing the total fishing effort over the decade (2015–2024) in China's seas and adjacent waters. Bycatch risk data: High-resolution (1 km × 1 km) bycatch risk maps, including raw cumulative bycatch risk (CBR) values and normalized risk indices, which reflect potential interaction areas between fishing activities and focal species. Raw data for figures: Source data underlying Figures 3, 4, and 5, including all raw values used to generate the plotted results. Model Evaluation and Data Processing Code: Complete Python workflows including: MaxEnt parameter optimization scripts for species distribution modeling Fleet data processing pipelines for aggregating and analyzing fishing effort These resources support research on sustainable fisheries management, marine spatial planning, and marine biodiversity conservation. The data are particularly valuable for understanding interactions between fishing activities and marine species distributions, assessing bycatch risks, and informing evidence-based marine policy decisions.