Aerial Fishing Survey

This data has been supplied in WSG84 Mercator 41 projection. The data was last updated as of 1 October 2019. This layer was completed by the National Institute of Water and Atmosphere (NIWA) on behalf of the Ministry of Fisheries (project SEC200701). The aim was to spatially describe the relative spatial intensity of recreational fishing effort. The specific aim was to derive GIS layers of the relative intensity of recreational fishing effort in areas where aerial over flight surveys have been conducted. Vessel positions were capture in a GIS database and shapefiles created. Created temporally weighted themes of fishing effort and a legend describing the scale of fishing intensity. The data used to generate these coverage’s were collected as part of recreational harvest estimation surveys conducted by NIWA on behalf of the Ministry of Fisheries. Surveys were conducted on the north-eastern and west coasts of the North Island and at the top of the South Island. The vessel positions obtained from all three surveys were collected in a similar manner. Observations were made from single or twin engine aircraft flying at an altitude of 500 to 1000 feet. Flights took place in the “late” morning and it is assumed that the spatial pattern of fishing at this time is representative of that occurring at other times. The positions of the vessels shown here are approximate as GPS positioning is not possible given the need to cover large areas economically. Vessel positions are therefore estimates based on neighbouring geographical landmarks. Although it is easier to spatially referencing an object from an altitude, some error will remain, which will differ given the proximity of the local coastline. Vessel locations offshore will therefore be less reliable than those close to shore, where an error of 2-300m is still possible. For more information, read this document.