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Catch data is essential in building a robust fisheries management strategy. However, in
some Regional Fisheries Management Organization (RFMO) e.g., Indian Ocean Tuna
Commission (IOTC), requires data to be verified by RFMO to ensure the catch composition
by gear reflects scientific observation from logbooks. However, such method sometimes
create a substantial difference between reported national catch in the country’s national report
and those presented in the IOTC datasets. Like what happened in Indonesia, in particular
affecting the yellowfin tuna catch. The re-estimation undertaken by the IOTC Secretariat
resulted in a 40% decrease from Indonesia's original catch report. This substantial
discrepancy necessitated a collaborative re-estimation process with the IOTC Secretariat to
rectify the situation.
Since the Indian Ocean yellowfin tuna stock has been estimated to be overfished and
subject to overfishing since 2015, catch reduction was an inevitable solution for guiding it back
into recovery. Nevertheless, if the re-estimated data by IOTC were to be used as the basis for
catch reductions, it would not accurately represent the actual situation, given that Indonesia
possesses the largest ocean area and fishing capacity among IOTC members. Indonesia
appreciates the effort taken by IOTC Secretariat to work with Indonesia on developing a new
methodology based on the best data available from the robust logbook to produce data catch
for the period of 2010-2021. Both parties agreed that the historic re-estimation methodology
was somewhat confusing and unreliable as it was based on an outdated study, thus an
updated version with more recent and robust datasets is submitted in this report.
Ten-join/assistance meetings (virtual and in person) with the IOTC staff were held during
2021-2024 to follow up the WPDCS recommendation and the SC. This report provided an indepth
study on how to conduct recalculation on the Indonesian tuna datasets, emphasizing
the use of reliable data source, increased coherence, and reduced uncertainties. Once this
approach has been accepted by WPDCS and endorsed by the SC, this methodology will be
used as the foundation for estimating Indonesian catches for the 1950–2022 periods.
