Deep-water red shrimp fishery in the Eastern-Central Mediterranean Sea: AIS-observed monthly fishing effort and frequency over four years

Abstract. Deep-sea fishery in the Mediterranean Sea was historically driven by the commercial profitability of deepwater red shrimps and understanding spatio-temporal dynamics of fishing is key to comprehensively evaluate the status of these profitable resources and prevent stock collapse. A four-year time series of AIS-based observed monthly patterns and related frequency of trawling disturbance are provided with a resolution of 0.01°*0.01°, accounting for the spatial extent and temporal variability in deep water bottom contact fisheries during the period 2015–2018. The dataset was estimated from 370 fishing vessels that were found to perform trawling in deep water (400 m–800 m) during the study period, and they represent a significant part of the real fleet exploiting this fishing grounds in the study area. The reconstructed deep-water trawling effort dataset is available at: https://doi.org/10.17882/89150 (Pulcinella et al., 2022). This large-scale and high-resolution dataset may help researchers of many scientific fields, as well as those involved in fishery management and in the update of existing management plans for deep-water red shrimp fisheries as foreseen in relevant General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean (GFCM) recommendations.