Vessel monitoring system (VMS) data request: EIR release

Information requested

You asked, in relation to your previous request (ref: 202500477403):

• “my request asked for data for Jan 2020 - Dec 2024 inclusive, or if unavailable Jan 2019 to Dec 2024. The VMS point data you provided only includes 2020 to 2023. Would you be able to provide data for 2019 and/or 2024 in the same format please?
• Previously, surveillance sighting data has included course and speed as well as the attributes included in the recently supplied data (date, nationality, vessel type, latitude, longitude, activity, length group and weight group). Is it possible to reissue this data with course and speed included, please?”

Response

In relation to your first query, the data provided covers the 2020-2024 timeframe inclusive as requested.

The 2024 VMS files follow a different filename convention to the 2020-2023 files as they were produced for different EIRs. The 2024 files are titled:

202500446872_ICES 2024_VMS Data_Part1

202500446872_ICES 2024_VMS Data_Part2

202500446872_ICES 2024_VMS Data_Part3

With regards to your second question, as your original request did not specify any particular data fields, we released data that had been extracted for previous EIR requests which met your request. Course and speed fields had not been requested as part of those previous EIRs. However, we have reextracted the data with those columns included and added the resulting spreadsheet to the Objective Connect workspace set up for your previous request. As course and speed values are not usually recorded, the columns for these fields mostly have nil values (where they have not been recorded) or zero values where vessels are recorded in port (stationary).

About FOI

The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at https://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.