Nominal catch by species and gear, by vessel flag reporting country

Nominal catch datasets for stock assessments should be accessed through the dedicated meeting page for the IOTC working party.

This table lists annual catches for each IOTC statistical area, by species and fishing gear made by vessels flying the flag of the reporting country in live weight equivalent. These data are aggregated by calendar year for tuna and tuna-like species and non-target species (by-catch). The data set extends back to the 1950’s when industrial longlining started in the Indian Ocean. The data are in the public domain. Nominal catches are available in spreadsheet format (Microsoft excel) both for IOTC species and sharks. Please, refer to the worksheet NOTES within the downloadable spreadsheet if you want to use this dataset.

Note that the catch estimates in this data file differ from the ‘best scientific estimates’ of nominal catch used for stock assessment purposes and published on the dedicated meeting pages for each IOTC Working Party.  The best scientific estimates disaggregates catches recorded under species or gear aggregates recorded in the IOTC database reported by countries, which are then assigned by species or gear when the Secretariat has access to alternate sources of information such as statistical publications, fishery bulletins or other information.  For this reason, catches by individual species or gear published on the IOTC meeting pages may differ from the nominal catches available from the data file available here.

Nominal catch by species and gear, by vessel flag reporting country  for 1950-2018, last updated 18th September 2019. Catches for 2018 are preliminary