Decades’ worth of data revealing the health of our seas and marine wildlife, will be made freely available to the public for the first time, following the launch of a new ‘Data Hub’ today by the Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (Cefas).  The Cefas Data Hub, an online portal allowing the public and UK businesses to explore, download and reuse the data for their own research, will be populated by hundreds of free marine datasets in the coming months.

The hub is being launched alongside newly released data on fish populations and climate change and is an important step in the #OpenDefra project, which will see the release of thousands of datasets over the year in the biggest government data giveaway the country has ever seen.  By opening up its extensive data vaults, Cefas will be helping to boost productivity and create opportunities for people and businesses whilst putting Britain at the forefront of the open data revolution.

Environment Secretary Elizabeth Truss said:

By opening up this data everyone from small-scale fishermen to global producers and marine academics will be able to access information that will give them in-depth knowledge about our seas so they can plan for tomorrow, today. The potential of this data for the fishing industry and conservationists is huge. I urge innovators and entrepreneurs to come forward with ideas about how this can be used to help grow our thriving rural economy, protect and improve our natural environment and boost our world-leading food and fishing industry.

It’s vital that we fish sustainably and protect the marine environment to safeguard the long-term future of our fishing industry. That’s why we have to listen to the latest science to ensure our marine planning enables the next generation of fishermen and coastal communities to prosper.

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/cefas-leads-the-marine-open-data-revolution