Where does my data go? Preparation of files for the assessments of IOTC stocks and use of data for the assessments of IOTC species Mauritius, March 2014 Compliance Workshop: Collection and reporting of Fisheries data to IOTC Sponsored by BOBLME-IOC-SmartFish-IOTC

Building blocks of Tuna stock assessments Catch-and-effort data Landed (Nominal) catch (sale slips; sampling) Discard levels (observers; logbooks) Effort (logbooks; sampling) Size/age composition (sampling; tagging) Abundance trends Fishery CPUE (fine-scale operational data from logbooks) [Size/age/sex composition (logbooks; sampling; tagging)] Exploitation rates (tagging) Life history information Longevity/natural mortality (tagging; otoliths) Growth (tagging; otoliths) Maturation (biological samples) Spatial and seasonal patterns Routine Data Collection Data Collection through specific projects (updated regularly)

Building blocks of management advice Slide from R. Method modified by Joseph E. Powers

Input files prepared for the assessments IOTC SECRETARIAT Catch [and effort] data by species, time-period (usually quarter), fishery (groups of Flag-Gear combinations depending on the selectivity) and areas (depending on the dynamics of the fleets and species for assessment) Number of fish sampled by species, size bin, time-period… (as above) Length-weight, growth, and other functions used for each species Life history information FLAG STATES Indices of abundance (from as many fleets as possible); estimated using fine- scale operational data (logbooks)

Example of BET input files Bigeye tuna SS3 Assessment

Steps in the preparation of datasets NOMINAL CATCH

CATCH-AND-EFFORT

Steps in the preparation of datasets (cont.) INDIVIDUAL LENGTH DATA

Nominal Catch: What is missing ? The majority of countries attending the Workshop have not reported nominal catches as per the standards agreed by the IOTC On the contrary, other countries have adhered in general to the standards, for most IOTC species The IOTC Secretariat has to estimate catches when reports are incomplete  75% of the catches over the history of the fishery Attending the Workshop All IOTC Species Not attending the Workshop By Species

Catch-and-Effort: What is missing ? The majority of countries attending the Workshop have not reported catch-and-effort data at all (red) Where reported, catch and effort is not by the standards in most cases (light green) On the contrary, levels of reporting for other countries are higher with data reported by the standards in most cases Levels of reporting have only slightly improved over time and remain very low Attending the Workshop Not attending the Workshop By Species Attending the Workshop All IOTC Species

Size Frequency: What is missing ? The majority of countries attending the Workshop have not reported size frequency data at all (red) Where reported, size frequency is not by the standards in most cases (light green; orange) On the contrary, levels of reporting for other countries are higher with data reported by the standards in most cases Levels of reporting have only slightly improved over time and remain very low Attending the Workshop Not attending the Workshop By Species Attending the Workshop All IOTC Species

Conclusion The quality of the management advice depends on the quality of the data that feeds the assessment and the uncertainty associated to the results; If data completeness and quality does not improve we have to live with what we have and take more conservative actions to ensure that IOTC stocks are safe

T HANK Y OU FOR Y OUR A TTENTION Mauritius, March 2014 Compliance Workshop: Collection and reporting of Fisheries data to IOTC Sponsored by BOBLME-IOC-SmartFish-IOTC