IOTC-OFCF Project

Since April 2002, the IOTC Secretariat and the Overseas Fisheries Cooperation Foundation of Japan (OFCF), through the IOTC-OFCF Project, have been assisting developing coastal states in the IOTC area of competence with their statistical data collection, processing, and reporting systems, with a view to enhancing the capacity of institutions in those countries and improve their compliance with IOTC requirements for statistics and other scientific data used on the assessments of IOTC species.

The Project has directly assisted in implementing the recommendations of the IOTC Working Parties, as well as Scientific Committee, which could not be implemented due to insufficient resources in the countries concerned.   It has also addressed requests for training made by IOTC Members, fulfilling the mandate of the Commission to encourage and coordinate activities connected with transfer of technology, training and enhancement, with due regard to the special interests and needs of Members in the region that are developing countries.

Phase I: Cooperation Project for Enhancing the Data Collection and Processing Systems for Tuna Resources in the Indian Ocean (2002 – 2007)

The fisheries targeted during Phase I were those that were of sufficient size to influence stock assessments or future management measures, or catches not well represented in other fisheries, and included the following four priority areas:

• Statistics from Indonesia: Indonesia is a major tuna-fishing nation in the region. However, the data available from Indonesia were, in general, of uncertain accuracy and incomplete until 2002. Of particular concern was the large fleet of Indonesian fresh-tuna longliners catching yellowfin, bigeye, albacore and southern bluefin tunas, swordfish and sharks.
• Improve the data collection systems in developing coastal countries: the collection of high-quality fisheries statistics in developing countries is an important requirement for further development of their fisheries, and greatly assists in the assessment of the status of tuna stocks by regional bodies such as IOTC. Implementation of sampling programs in Maldives, Oman, Sri Lanka and Thailand.
• Statistics from gillnet fisheries: These fisheries operate primarily from Iran, Oman, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, and are an important component of the fisheries for tropical tunas, as they catch a range of sizes that are not usually available to other gears during the same seasons and areas.
• Statistics from new longline and purse seine industrial fisheries: These fisheries currently operate from I.R. Iran, Malaysia, Mauritius, South Africa, Seychelles and Thailand, and are of major importance in terms of the volumes of tropical tunas they catch.

Activities implemented under Phase I include:

• Fact-finding missions to Indonesia, Thailand, and Oman in 2002, Sri Lanka, I.R. Iran, India, Maldives, Mozambique, Mauritius and Seychelles in 2003, and Tanzania and Kenya in 2005.  Mission findings and recommendations compiled into Country Reports and copies provided to national fisheries organisations in each country.
• Regional workshop on data collection and statistical systems in countries of the IOTC region (Seychelles, March 2004).
• Coastal purse seine fisheries of Thailand (November 2005–October 2006): financial and logistical support provided to improve the collection of catch, effort and size-frequency data, in particular for neritic tuna species.
• International workshops on data processing and database management using IOTC FINSS software (Seychelles, August 2002; and Indonesia, December 2004).

You can download and read the IOTC-OFCF Project Phase I Comprehensive Report.

Phase II: Cooperation Project for Enhancing the Data Collection and Processing Systems for Tuna Resources in the Indian Ocean Phase II (2007 – 2010)

Phase II of the Project succeeded the framework of Phase I, with the same overall objective “to contribute to the realisation of sustainable utilisation of tuna resources, by improving the accuracy of data collection and statistical analysis of the catch and resources of tuna in the Indian Ocean”.  Specifically:

1. Providing technical guidance and assistance to coastal countries in the IOTC Region in order to enhance the fisheries data collection and processing systems in those countries.
2. Transfer of technology, as necessary to achieve the above.
3. Implementing any other activities that both IOTC and OFCF consider necessary to achieve the objectives of the Project.

The priority areas identified for Phase I were also applied to Phase II, including a continuation of activities from Phase I, including follow-up missions to Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Thailand:

• Fact-finding missions to Mauritius and Thailand in 2007, Yemen in 2008, and Comoros in 2009.
• Implementation of sampling programmes for artisanal gillnet and hand-line fisheries in the Arabian Sea.
• Support for the Directorate General of Capture Fisheries (DGCF), Indonesia, in the implementation of a vessel marking scheme for fresh-tuna longlines based in Indonesia.
• Workshop on logbook program for Indonesian fisheries in Indonesia held in Jakarta in May 2009 and publication of follow-up report.

You can download and read the IOTC-OFCF Project Phase II Comprehensive Report.

Phase III: Cooperation Project in support of activities related to the Regional Observer Scheme in the Indian Ocean (2010 – 2013)

Phase III of the Project continued the main objectives and delivery framework of Phases I and II – providing support and technical guidance to IOTC coastal countries and assistance in improving fisheries data collection and processing systems – with the main difference being the focus on capacity building of data collection/processing of port sampling from artisanal fisheries in the coastal countries related to the Regional Observer Scheme (as identified in IOTC Resolution 10/04 and superseded by Resolution 11/04):

1. Providing technical guidance and assistance to coastal countries in the IOTC Region in order to enhance the fisheries data collection and processing systems in those countries relating to the Regional Observer Scheme.
2. Transfer of technology, as necessary to achieve the above.
3. Implementing any other activities that both IOTC and OFCF consider necessary to achieve the objectives of the Project.

Activities implemented under Phase III include:

• Indonesia: workshop on catch estimation in Indonesia and recommendations on improvements to the sampling design.
• Mauritius: assessment of data collection and processing of catch statistics.
• Comoros: implementation of vessel census in 2011 and 2012; catch estimation training and provision of funding for catch assessment survey at landing sites in 2011 and 2012.
• Iran: upgrading of database system and database design to incorporate changes in the data collection and improve processing and validation of fisheries data.
• Sri Lanka: funding for Centralized Database Management System, and strengthening of sampling coverage at landing sites.

You can download and read the IOTC-OFCF Project Phase III Comprehensive Report.

Phase IV: Cooperation Project for strengthening and improving statistical systems for tuna resources in the Indian Ocean (2014 – ongoing)

Phase IV continues the overall objectives and delivery mechanisms of previous phases of the Project, contributing to the realization of sustainable utilization of tuna resources by improving the accuracy of data collection and statistical analysis of the catch and resources of tuna in the Indian Ocean.
Activities for Phase IV of the IOTC-OFCF Project as identified by the IOTC Secretariat, include:

• Indonesia: Follow-up mission to review catch monitoring activities on longliners flagged in Indonesia, including catches of albacore, port sampling activities for catch and length, and logbook system.
• Indonesia: Data collection and data management workshops in Indonesia.  Provide assistance to data processing for data collected from the longline fishery, in particular length frequency data, which Indonesia has not reported to the IOTC Secretariat since 2010.  Assist in the preparation of data and procedures to facilitate reporting in the future.
• Data mining neritic tunas:  Review of catch-and-effort data collected from the coastal purse seine fisheries operated in Malaysia and Thailand and actions required to improve the quality of the data collected from those fisheries.