Historical Scottish blue mussel (Mytilus edulis) beds: distribution, size and status / Historical Scottish blue mussel fishery landings and estimated area of exploitation.

Historical Scottish blue mussel (M.edulis) bed distribution, size (hectares), management status and condition status. Data were compiled from archived Government inquiries, reports and newspaper articles. This file also includes annually resolved Scottish blue mussel landings (from 1883-2020) and line fishing landings (from 1892-2020). These data were retrieved from annual Sea Fisheries Statistical Reports from the Fishery Board for Scotland (available from the ‘ProQuest U.K. Parliamentary Papers’ online repository: https://parlipapers.proquest.com/, and the Scottish Government website https://www.gov.scot/collections/sea-fisheries-statistics/).This excel data file includes: extracts from government reports, inquiries and news articles used to establish the names and locations of historical Scottish blue mussel beds, their spatial extent (where data were available), their condition status and drivers of this status, and method of extraction (i.e., fishing method). It also includes time-series of Scottish blue mussel and line fishing landings (tonnes) from 1883 and 1892 respectively, and the estimated mussel bed area (hectares) exploited.Tabs:Summary_dataLabelled columns:Area (region)M.edulis bedPositionLocationSize (not standardised)Size (hectares)StatusManaged/cultivated (Y/N)Main impact (overfishing/pollution/natural causes)Fishing methodExtract (inquiries)Extract (news articles) Raw data- ReportsLabelled columns:Link (to source)TitleDatePurpose of documentLocation (of mussel bed/fishery)Extract1st or 2nd hand observation (i.e., directly observed or inferred)Raw data- News articlesLabelled columns:Link (to source)Newspaper titleArticle title Date Location (of mussel bed/fishery)Extract1st or 2nd hand observation LandingsLabelled columns:YearMussel landings (tonnes)Line fishing landings (tonnes)Estimated area (of mussel beds) exploited (hectares)