Status of reporting of fisheries Statistics and data quality

The IOTC Databases are under constant review. Each year, the IOTC Secretariat prepares reports on the status of fisheries for IOTC species, main trends, and main issues identified for each dataset and species for the Working Parties, including:

• Tropical tunas (Review of the statistical data and fishery trends for tropical tunas 2013)
• Temperate tunas (Review of the statistical data and fishery trends for albacore 2012)    
• Billfish (Review of the statistical data and fishery trends for billfish 2013)     
• Neritic tunas (Review of the statistical data available for the neritic tuna species 2013)    
• Sharks and other bycatch (Review of the statistical data available for bycatch species 2013)

The IOTC Data Quality Catalogues represent an attempt by the IOTC Secretariat to assess the Quality of the catch, effort and length frequency statistics for IOTC species in the IOTC Databases. Please, note that the type of data that the IOTC Secretariat receives from CPCs and other Parties is aggregated, and this reduces the ability of the Secretariat to properly assess its quality.

Levels of compliance of IOTC CPCs and other parties with IOTC Requirements are assessed annually, through a report that the IOTC Secretariat prepares for the IOTC Working Party on Data Collection and Statistics, or the Scientific Committee (see the 2013 Report on IOTC Data Collection and Statistics).