ICES launches fisheries advice app
20th February 2023
The International Council for the Exploration of the Seas (ICES) has launched a test version of a new app that visualises ICES fisheries advice data, reports Paul Scott.
The app allows users the opportunity to access and interact directly with the data behind ICES advice figures, which the organisation says is ‘an important step’ towards its advice sheets becoming fully interactive, potentially opening up the advice for wider use and understanding.
Over the past two years, a team at ICES has been working to translate data from the traditional static advice sheets to an interactive online tool. The organisation says that while it currently publishes various types of fisheries advice, including mixed fisheries and fisheries overviews, it was single-stock advice that was selected for the testing of the new app.
The app currently contains data for around 100 fish stocks from across the ICES region.
The developers of the app are encouraging anyone with an interest in the status of fish stocks in the ICES region to explore and investigate the new tool.
They say that users can select a fish stock by ‘ecoregion, assessment year or stock code’. Once selected, users can then view the stock’s development over time. All plots are interactive, data can be downloaded, and there is a direct link to the advice in the library.
In addition to the headline advice for each stock, ICES advice sheets usually include a number of alternative catch scenarios to demonstrate how different catch levels would impact on the fishing pressure and stock development.
The newly developed database also allows users to access this advice, including catch scenarios, and other metadata regarding the advice itself. Data for a selection of stocks, by species, ecoregion, advice requester or date, can also be downloaded.
The new test version of the ICES fisheries advice app can be accessed here.
The developers say that feedback on the new tool is welcomed, and can be submitted via the ‘Resources’ tab within the app.
This story was taken from the latest issue of Fishing News. For more up-to-date and in-depth reports on the UK and Irish commercial fishing sector, subscribe to Fishing News here or buy the latest single issue for just £3.30 here.
