E - Iccat

DATA WORKSHOP - MADRID 2003
tuna [Ref. 01-21] have a very recent history and have not been used yet to estimate unreported catches. However,
the ICCAT Recommendations that established them contain important exemptions from reporting (e.g.,
statistical document requirement only for frozen bigeye products, and bigeye tuna caught by purse seiners and
pole and line (bait) vessels and destined principally for the canneries in the Convention area are not subject to the
statistical document requirement), and thus their use may be limited.
The Delegate of Japan noted that the submission of both the bi-annual reports from statistical documents and the
annual report on farming data are essential in order to understand the full history of bluefin transactions. The
BFTSD should indicate if the fish was farmed. He noted that only Japan and the United States have recently
reported imports of bluefin, and questioned if this information was complete, as there are some other countries
that import bluefin and then re-export it to Japan.
Concern was expressed, particularly by the EC, about problems associated with the statistical document
programs (e.g., unreliable information, false records, and/or no documents) and that these should be addressed
before they are used as detailed scientific data. There are still many inconsistencies to resolve, especially
regarding re-exports and transshipments. In the first stage, the EC Delegate proposed that the Contracting Parties
exchange data beforehand to resolve these problems before utilizing the individual documents to validate the
data on catches. The Delegate of Japan agreed that as a major importing country, they could provide individual
records of imports (protecting any confidential information, as required) so that they could be crosschecked with
the exporting fishing party.
The Delegate of the EC expressed concern that this detailed level of checking could take substantial Secretariat
resources. The Secretariat confirmed that the SCRS request for the detailed information from Statistical
documents was intended to make global comparisons between Task I and export data, a task that can be
performed with the current resources. However, a very detailed level of crosschecking of individual
import/export transactions is beyond the current capabilities of the Secretariat.
The Chairman noted that the Recommendation by ICCAT on Bluefin Tuna Farming [Ref. 02-10] might also
serve as a crosschecking mechanism to improve total catch estimates for Mediterranean bluefin tuna. The
Chairman added that, at the time of the Workshop, only one Contracting Party had submitted a farming report
and thus it was too early to evaluate the performance of this instrument as a validation mechanism. The Delegate
of the EC noted that there is a one-year delay, or longer, before ICCAT instruments can be implemented by the
EC or by many other Contracting Parties. Therefore, it is expected that farming reports from the EC and other
important farming countries in the Mediterranean will become available in 2004.
The Workshop concluded that certain requirements in relation to the BFTSD should be reinforced to take better
account of the concerns raised, in particular relating to farming (see [Ref. 02-10]) and re -export (see [Ref. 97-4]).
Given the Swordfish and Bigeye Statistical Document Programs are based on the same template, they may share
the same re-export concerns, which also need to be addressed. There is a need to simplify the documents and
improve the reporting.
6. Recommendations for improving the collection and reporting of catch data
The Workshop endorsed all of the SCRS recommendations regarding data collection outlined in section 5 and
Appendix 4 to ANNEX 4.3. The following are direct recommendations from the Workshop, some having
financial implications for the Commission (i.e., ICCAT Manual, ICCAT research programs, scientific
participation, and port sampling).
6.1 Reliability of catch statistics
ICCAT survey. The Commission should formalize the request for the completion of the ICCAT Survey on
Statistic Collection Systems, which is now only on a voluntary basis. Of the more than 90 Parties believed to be
fishing for tuna or tuna-like species in the ICCAT Convention area, only 17 returned completed questionnaires
(seven replied stating that they did not operate tuna fis heries in the Convention area).
Observer programs. In order to characterize the total catch composition across the full range of species in the
Atlantic and Mediterranean, comprehensive at-sea observer data are essential. In the case of bluefin tuna
farming, observers are needed both on the purse seiners and at the cages. Logbooks are essential, but because of
the self-reporting nature, must be augmented with observer data.
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