Retained catches by year, main IOTC area, fleet, and gear for all IOTC and bycatch species

This dataset corresponds to the latest version of the raw estimates of annual catches in live-weight equivalent for the all species for which catches are submitted to the Secretariat, aggregated by year, IOTC statistical area and fishing fleet. Data are reported by calendar year and extend back to the 1950s, when industrial longlining started in the Indian Ocean.

The data originate from the IOTC Contracting Parties and Cooperating Non-Contracting Parties (CPCs) as per the IOTC data requirements (Resolution 15/02). They are submitted annually, mostly using IOTC Form 1RC, and curated by the Secretariat for dissemination prior to IOTC Working Parties and other scientific data users.

Previous update (2025-10-16) : Catches for Indonesia in 2024 were repeated from 2023, following feedback from Indonesia that additional checks and data processing were ongoing to improve their data

Global attributes

• Title: Retained catch by species, gear, and vessel flag reporting country for the period 1950-2024
• Summary: Curated dataset providing detailed information on the tuna catches in the Indian Ocean
• Context of development: Management of tuna and tuna-like species under IOTC mandate
• Data origin: Retained catch data collected on land or at sea by national institutions and the fishing industry, with some data having been previously extrapolated to represent the broader fishery
• Lineage: Formatting, filtering
• Keywords: Bigeye tuna, IOTC species, catch, tuna fisheries
• Type: Tabular file
• Format: CSV
• Size: 1,130 KB for compressed dataset and 28,652 KB for original dataset
• Structures: 70,545 rows x 36 columns
• Taxonomic standard: ASFIS
• Geographic description: Fishing areas within the Indian Ocean
• Date standard: ISO 8601
• Update frequency: According to data revisions and updates
• Metadata production date: 22 October 2025
• Source: IOTC
• Contact: [email protected]
• Credit: IOTC Secretariat
• Associated rights: Public-domain data requiring source acknowledgement