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Status and trends reporting in fisheries: A review of progress and approaches to reporting the state of world fisheries

Year of publication 2001

Place of publication Rome, Italy ;

Pages 74

Author Evans, D.W.

Product type Book (series)

Series title FAO Fisheries Circular

Series number 0429-9329 - C967

Edition 1

Synopsis (short abstract) This circular reviews recent progress and approaches made by FAO and other organizations to reporting on the status and trends of world fisheries. It includes a brief introduction on events that stimulated the creation of the ACFR Working Party on Status and Trends of Fisheries that resulted in this review, including the decision to prepare a draft International Plan of Action on the issue. Chapter 2 addresses the general issues that require attention as identified in the Code of Conduct for Re sponsible Fisheries, including the changing requirements resulting from international instruments and national laws, which are direct responses to changing perspectives on the information requirements to address sustainability, and the rising demand from all stakeholders for transparency and objectivity. The Circular then briefly reviews FAO’s global perspective (Chapter 3) and approaches to reporting and research by a range of global, regional and national institutions (Chapter 4). It concludes with a general discussion of approaches to meeting information standards, quality and accessibility, including issues concerning frameworks, standards, quality assurance, the conduct of working groups, and suggestions for the development of a method for improving fishery information upon which status and trends reports might be based. In the latter area it provides a conceptual and generalized framework for a user-oriented method (as part of the FIGIS programme) for registering stock assessment and stock status information. Suggested templates for this are in Appendix 1. Appendix 2 offers brief case studies on the ways fishery status and trends are reported by three institutions: the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES), the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) and the United States National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS).

Cite this content as:

Evans, D.W. Status and trends reporting in fisheries: A review of progress and approaches to reporting the state of world fisheries FAO Fisheries Circular. No. 967. Rome, FAO. 2001. 74p.

Language English

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    Technical Consultation on Improving Information on the Status and Trends of Capture Fisheries / Consultation technique sur l'amélioration de l'information concernant la situation et les tendances des pêches de capture / Consulta técnica sobre la introducción de las mejoras en la información acerca de la situación y las tendencias de la pesca de captura 2002
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    The Technical Consultation on Improving Information on the Status and Trends of Capture Fisheries (Rome, Italy, 25-28 March 2002) considered the issue in terms of general perspectives, the required actions and mechanisms for promotion and implementation, the nature of the instrument to be used and consideration of a proposal for a Strategy. The Technical Consultation expressed the view that the issue of improving information on the status and trends of capture fisheries should have a high priori ty with regard to implementation of the Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries. It agreed that a Strategy is an appropriate instrument to address the issue because it is a document that sets forth objectives, policies, programmes, actions and decisions that define who will do what and why. It felt that a Strategy could be used as a foundation for various policy instruments, and that it clearly establishes an ongoing commitment at national, regional and global levels. The Technical Consultatio n approved a draft Strategy for Improving Information on Status and Trends of Capture Fisheries and requested that this report and the draft Strategy be presented to the Twenty-fifth Session of the Committee on Fisheries. It also recognized that it would be necessary for FAO and FAO Members to elaborate programmes to implement the Strategy and suggested that COFI identify approaches to ensure the effective implementation of this Strategy.
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    ACFR - Report of the Working Party on Status and Trends of Fisheries. Rome, 30 November - 3 December 1999. 2000
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    The Advisory Committee on Fisheries Research (ACFR) at its First Session proposed as a priority the establishment by FAO of a Working Party on Status and Trends of Fisheries to: (a) evaluate data needs for status and trends reporting on a global scale on marine fisheries and propose a common template of essential information elements; (b) propose arrangements for the involvement of regional fishery bodies and non-FAO experts in a consensus-seeking process for assembling, reviewing and di sseminating fishery status and trends information (including reporting to COFI), and (c) advise on the relationship between FAO's data collection and status and trends reporting programme and the Living Marine Resources module of the Global Ocean Observing System (LMR-GOOS). This is the report of the first meeting of the Working Party which met in Rome from 30 November to 3 December 1999. Owing to the importance of status and trends reports, and the scrutiny they receive, the Working P arty recommended that the global system of status and trends reporting be advanced by: (a) increasing completeness by including some fisheries and fishery resources that are currently under-represented; (b) expanding the scope of current reports which are primarily on catch and fishery resource information to include other dimensions of fisheries (e.g. reports on economic and social aspects), and (c) enhancing quality assurance and credibility. The Working Party endorsed FAO’s recent d evelopment of an advanced Web-based fisheries information system for status and trends information (currently referred to as FIGIS) as a critical tool for advancing status and trend reporting. The Working Party recommended that a draft International Plan of Action to advance status and trends reporting on world fisheries should be prepared, which would include: (a) steps to complete development of a status and trends information database; (b) capacity building and arrangements for usin g FIGIS; (c) development of cost-effective methods for acquiring and validating information on the status and trends of small-scale fisheries and multispecies fisheries; (d) an inventory of world fisheries and stocks; (e) priority for expanding the scope of status and trends reporting; (f) appropriate partnership arrangements with existing regional bodies, and other entities; (g) identification of needs and opportunities for new regional arrangements where appropriate arrangements do n ot now exist; (h) practical guidelines for quality assurance, and (i) the role of local, regional, and global scientific working parties as a vehicle for status and trends reporting, capacity building, and quality assurance.
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