Fisheries Data Reporting to the IOTC: Status and Issues

This report reviewed the status and quality of fishery data submitted to the IOTC Secretariat for the 2024 reference year, including retained catch, catch and effort, size-frequency, discard, and Fish Aggregating Device (FAD) data. Overall reporting improved compared with previous years, with most CPCs submitting core datasets for longline, purse seine, and coastal fisheries. Several CPCs that had previously faced challenges in meeting minimum reporting standards—such as Pakistan, Oman, and Somalia—submitted more complete datasets, although substantial gaps remained, particularly for geo-referenced information. Yemen also provided essential catch and fishery-level information following technical exchanges with the Secretariat.

Discard data reporting increased across longline and purse seine fisheries, largely driven by requirements under species-specific Conservation and Management Measures. Despite these improvements, discard data remained heterogeneous among fleets, often lacking raising procedures and complete information on sampling coverage. Several fleets reported nil discards for fisheries where discarding is expected, while others, such as the Maldives pole-and-line fishery, legitimately reported minimal discarding due to national protection measures. Longline fleets reported discards primarily in numbers of individuals, with sharks forming the majority of discarded catch.

Data related to drifting and anchored FADs improved in structure and consistency compared with 2023, although key variables—such as buoy identification and material composition—remained inconsistently reported. Most DFAD fleets submitted data, whereas only the Maldives submitted AFAD data.

Coastal fisheries continued to face persistent limitations in reporting geo-referenced catch-and-effort and biological sampling data due to extensive fleets, dispersed landing sites, and limited monitoring capacity.