1. The uses of data in Fisheries Management
April 2014
This is not a technical presentation.
I just want you to think about your work, and about the information that you collect and organise, and what it is used for.
And also to provide an opportunity for you to ask questions of the assembled SPC and FFA staff about the way in which your data is used at the regional and global level in fisheries management.
And to provide us with feedback about your needs when it comes to capacity-building of your offices. Where are you strongest & where do you need more assistance? What do you see as the priorities?

2. Data is quantitative information
Why do we collect fisheries data?
If this workshop was your first experience of tuna data you might assume that it was all about fulfilling an obligation placed by the WCPF Commission upon you to report the activities of your national tuna fleets … that we’re only collecting and analysing this data because the commission says so.
But you as WCPFC members control the commission. It was you, as countries, who agreed in 2004 that you would all collaborate in the management and development of regional highly migratory fish stocks. You decided to collect this data because it helps you.
And you have developed common standards across the region not to make life difficult for yourselves, but because you SHARE these stocks, and many of the vessels fish internationally. Each of you needs to know what is happening to the stock that you fish when it is in other parts of the region.
So how does collecting and sharing this data help you?

3. What does data inform? Assessment Management Design Allocation
Compliance
Development
Government
The public
Markets
So what processes does collecting and sharing fisheries data help?
Assessment – determining the health of a fishery. Stock assessment is very data-hungry. Indicators of the health of the fishery
Management Design – putting together a management plan or harvest control rule, and setting target and limit reference points
Allocation – establishing the rights of each stakeholder in the fishery, and how they are using those rights or approaching their limits. Establishing total catch or total effort is very important to the commission, but also very important to those of you with national allocation systems like PNA VDS
Compliance – compliance is a part of fisheries management. It is compliance with fisheries management rules. Knowing whether a vessel or operator is following the rules requires quantitative as well as qualitative information – including spatially explicit data like VMS
Development – all fisheries management has an objective. You’re not just trying to keep regional stocks healthy, but trying to maximize benefits for your own economy, or trying to maintain social standards - development. You need data to know where to establish an onshore processing plant, or to persuade a development bank or partner that their investment in a new landing point, or in training 300 new observers is justified
Government – unlike community-managed fisheries, most governments don’t have much direct contact with the sea and need hard information and reports in order to make decisions about fisheries and to allocate budgets
The public – has a right to know
External trading partners – the great majority of tuna caught in this region is exported. It is becoming increasingly important to provide information to accompany these exports, either to increase their value, or just to access certain markets. Catch Documentation Schemes, assurances of catch origin from non-IUU sources, sustainability certification are all data-intensive processes and possibly will become a big driver in your work.

4. Threats and Opportunities
Data is going to become more important as fisheries management becomes formalised
Data collection and analysis is often under-resourced
Discussion:
Questions about what your data is used for at the regional level?
Feedback for FFA and SPC to help with future capacity-building. What is your capacity, and what assistance is needed?
You are the future – And since you are the future, I am glad to see the gender balance of participation in this workshop move onto the positive side.
30 years ago it was difficult to actually keep data and information activities in government fisheries budgets. If there was a budget squeeze, fishery monitoring was usually the first thing to go. Many Pacific Island fisheries departments didn’t actually MANAGE fisheries – they were simply asked to PROMOTE and develop them, and acquire foreign exchange through access fees, with little thought to limits, or to reserving opportunities for local fishers. They didn’t need much data. Fisheries management wasn’t a science, it was an art.
Nowadays, information is becoming established as the heart of Pacific Island industrial fisheries management, as tuna stocks reach the limit of exploitation, and as development opportunities are less aimed at pure expansion and more at replacing foreign fishing activity in your waters with local enterprise. And the application of what many see as “best practice” management mechanisms, managing according to precautionary Reference Points and using Harvest Control Rules for pre-agreed responses when fishery indicators approach those reference points.
Any questions about how your information is used in fisheries management?
Any feedback for SPC and FFA about the resources available to national tuna fisheries data offices? What should we be concentrating regional capacity-building assistance?
Are you dependent entirely on central government budget or is their cost-recovery financing for data entry and management?