SAR_based_Fishing_Activity_Mediterranean_Sea_Total_2017_2021

This dataset was generated using Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) vessel detections and Automatic Identification System (AIS) data to predict trawl fishing intensity and distribution in areas where public AIS data are unavailable (https://doi.org/10.1093/icesjms/fsae153). The study creates a statistical relationship between SAR vessel detections and AIS fishing activity by processing SAR data and using a General Additive Model to account for spatial and temporal autocorrelation. The resulting dataset provides spatially explicit estimates (resolution 0.2 decimal degrees) of trawler fishing activity across the Mediterranean, as total hours of fishing activity in the years 2017-2021, including areas with historically high trawling pressure, such as the Strait of Sicily, the Adriatic Sea, the eastern Aegean Sea, and the Levant Sea off the Nile delta. These predictions offer new insights into fishing activity that were previously unavailable. The shapefile represents a regular grid in WGS1984 ("+proj=longlat +datum=WGS84 +no_defs +ellps=WGS84 +towgs84=0,0,0") with 2 fields: “hours” (total hours of fishing activity in the five-year period 2017-2021) and “se” (related standard error).