El Quseir Coast Marine Cage Aquaculture, Egypt
Description
This dataset supports the study “An Integrated Framework for Spatial Suitability of Marine Cage Aquaculture Sites on the El Quseir Coast of the Red Sea, Egypt Using GIS-Based Analysis.” It documents a GIS–analytic hierarchy process (GIS–AHP) assessment along approximately 70 km of the El Quseir coast, Red Sea, Egypt. The data comprise spatial screening results, criterion scores, AHP weights and consistency calculations, suitability classifications, candidate-site coordinates, and sensitivity-analysis outputs. Four criteria informed the assessment: water depth, proximity to selected human-use features, relative exposure to prevailing northwesterly winds, and potential environmental sensitivity represented by shoreline distance. Principal source datasets included GEBCO 2024 bathymetry and OpenStreetMap-derived geographic features. Regional climatic information from NASA POWER and coastal water-quality records provided complementary environmental context. The assessment evaluated 4,670 marine grid points, with 153 excluded by human-use buffers. Candidate-site selection applied a minimum suitability score of 0.5, an operating-depth range of 20–80 m, and a minimum separation of 3 km between candidate centres, identifying 14 priority locations. Sensitivity analysis examined the effects of increasing and decreasing the depth criterion weight by 20%. These data support examination of the spatial screening methodology and its results. The candidate locations represent priorities for further investigation; they do not constitute development approvals or establish site-specific engineering feasibility, coral clearance, or ecological carrying capacity. Third-party source datasets remain subject to their respective licences and attribution requirements.