Sandeel fishing grounds

Sandeels are small pelagic fish that play an important role in the diet of a range of natural predators. Because of their limited capture by traditional survey gear, little is known about their large-scale distribution or the degree of mixing between habitat areas. Detailed information collected directly from the fishery was used to map fishing grounds, which were assumed to reflect the foraging habitat of the species. Sandeel foraging habitat covered some 5% of the total area of the North Sea. The present data provides the shapefiles from the original study as well as updated shape files from 2022.