The dataset is a collection of Geographic Information System (GIS) shapefiles
showing the general distribution and spawning distribution of 14 fish species
selected from the 46 maps in the Olsen atlas based on their relevance to the
present day spawning datasets and commercial relevance: cod, haddock, herring,
lemon sole, mackerel, plaice, sole, whiting, skate, thornback ray, ling, horse
mackerel, hake and sprat (general distribution only). The majority of the
Olsen (1883) maps were for species either no longer considered in a large
commercial capacity in UK waters (e.g. anchovy, garfish, tusk etc.) and/or had
no comparative present day dataset available (e.g. mussels, turbot etc.). The
data complements the present day fish spawning datasets - Coull et al 1998,
Ellis et al 2012 and Marine Scotland 2014.