A harmonised evidence, production and spatial dataset for West African inland fisheries

Inland fisheries across West Africa remain chronically under-documented relative to their contribution to regional food security and livelihoods: the evidence base is scattered across grey literature, national reports, and disparate academic sources, with inconsistent spatial referencing and no shared identifier scheme linking evidence, production statistics, and site-level location data. This submission addresses that gap directly. We compiled and curated a relational data package spanning six linked tables (D0–D5): a source register of 61 publications and data resources, a 279-record evidence catalogue, a 578-observation country-year production panel, a 148-location spatial register, a 93-entry expanded data dictionary, and a 285-row spatial crosswalk connecting evidence to place. Every table is joined by stable identifiers (Study_ID, Record_ID, Spatial_ID, Link_ID), and every corrected or ambiguous value is documented with its rationale rather than silently resolved.