In 2017, ICES launched the Fisheries overviews. This series was developed to sit alongside our Ecosystem overviews series. With the Fisheries overviews, ICES brought clarity and coherence to a landscape where essential fisheries information for an ecoregion may have been previously scattered across multiple reports, assessments, and databases. By bringing everything together in one place, the overviews provided a clear picture of who was fishing in each ecoregion, what they caught, how fishing pressure changed over time and how these activities interact with the wider ecosystem. They were created to support ecosystem-based fisheries management, making complex information accessible to managers, policymakers and stakeholders, helping them understand regional fishing patterns, pressures, and trade-offs. In 2017, fisheries overviews for the Greater North Sea and the Baltic Sea ecoregions were published, and by 2021, all 11 ICES ecoregions with fishing activity had been covered. Today, the fisheries overviews serve as an important foundation for transparent decision-making, offering an integrated view of fishing activity that informs sustainable management across ICES ecoregions.

Making data accessible

Fisheries overviews have been published as static PDFs, with underlying data shared separately in recent years. The launch of our new shiny app, fisheriesXplorer​, builds on our commitment to transparency by making it easy to interact with plots and instantly access and download the data behind them. Alongside transparency-related issues, the move from static fisheries overview PDFs to the interactive fisheriesXplorer app was also driven by practical and scientific considerations.

"Producing fisheries overviews as information-dense PDF documents for 11 ecoregions had become increasingly difficult to sustain", says Sarah Millar, Head of Advice at ICES Secretariat, "From a resource perspective, the existing approach had reached its practical limit." fisheriesXplorer introduces a more efficient and scalable way of working by drawing data directly from ICES databases via APIs, making it easier to maintain, update, and improve fisheries overviews over time.

Another key motivation was the need to provide more up-to-date information. While some data shown in the fisheries overviews, such as landings, are updated annually, stock status can change more frequently based on newly published ICES advice. An online application allows users to access the most current information whenever they consult the overview, rather than relying on a static snapshot in time.

Improving accessibility and transparency was also central to the transition. "Although underlying data have in recent years been published alongside the PDFs," notes Millar, "fisheriesXplorer makes this information much easier to find, explore, and download. You can now interact directly with figures, access the data behind them immediately, and follow links to related ICES products that provide additional context."

fisheriesXplorer also reflects ICES broader shift towards more open and collaborative digital products. The app is built using fully open-source code, allowing ICES expert community to contribute new ideas, functions, and modules as the platform evolves.

Building on earlier digital advice tools

The idea behind fisheriesXplorer emerged alongside the development of adviceXplorer, following an initial request from the European Commission's Directorate-General for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries (DG MARE) for more interactive advice products. While earlier prototypes existed, adviceXplorer marked the start of a more structured development process that actively incorporated community feedback.

fisheriesXplorer builds directly on the experience gained through adviceXplorer. Many of the lessons learned about usability, transparency, and robustness have been applied, making fisheriesXplorer a natural evolution of ICES digital advice tools.

What this means for future publications

Fisheries overviews will now transition to fisheriesXplorer, marking an important step in expanding our suite of accessible, interactive online products.

Millar has highlighted the collective achievement behind the launch, noting: “fisheriesXplorer is the culmination of great effort across the ICES expert group community to provide a visually engaging and easy-to-use product that reinvigorates the way ICES provides information on fishing activities throughout ICES ecoregions.

Discover what ICES fisheries​Xplorer has to offer.​
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