Madrid, Spain, September 24-25, 2007

 Data submitted in 2007 ◦ Task I and Task II, Tagging data, Revisions to historical data, Shark statistics, Trade information  Updated reports ICCAT Database, Survey of Fishery Statistics collection systems  ICCAT-Secretariat National and International Statistical Activities  Report on data improvement activities ◦ Japan Data-Improvement Project ◦ Data Improvement Fund [Rec ]

 Review of Publications and Data dissemination  Progress of ICCAT Manual  Evaluation of data deficiencies [ Rec ]  Review of available information on Sport and Recreational Fisheries [ Rec ]  Future plans and recommendations

 19 of 43 contracting parties have submitted catch information (Task I) [Sep 9 th ]  Statistical data submission deadlines: ◦ Not being meet by 56% of contracting parties. ◦ It is recognized that data quality control, verification and administrative processes may delay data submission.  Facilitate communication ◦ Scientist => list Web of Statistical Correspondents

SCI-008 Sep 9 th /07

 That the Commission should look at incentives to improve data reporting.  Considering that there is usually a one-year lag to obtain the best quality final estimates of data and that the latest year of data should be preliminary and subject to changes, the Sub- Committee should look at practical and realistic deadlines based on scientific goals and data quality.  Compliance with reporting of Annual Fleet Statistics. ◦ Given that the Commission is trying to manage Fleet Capacity:  Contracting Parties should report fleet sizes, including numbers and characteristics of Active and Licensed vessels.  Data quality follow up = > Questionnaire

 Tagging ◦ Protocol to streamline updating US tagging data  Historical Data ◦ Albacore North catch/effort  ICCAT database will store historic data  Web ICCAT data 1950 forward  Other data ◦ Bycatch species: Environmental WG meta- database ◦ Sharks WG to include shark-tag data US/EU- Ireland

 Data of Trade Statistics: bluefin tuna, swordfish and bigeye tuna (SCI-008/2007). ◦ BET & SWO working groups should provide conversion factors for trade statistics & protocols for their computation.  Secretariat should upgrade computer servers for network support to SCRS meetings.

 CWP (coordinating working party on fishery statistics) ◦ SCI-008/2007 report of activities  FAO ◦ Participation in Dakar workshop  FIRMS ◦

 Japan Data-Improvement Project ◦ SCI-009/2007  Data Fund from Resolution by ICCAT on Improvements in Data Collection and Quality Assurance ◦ SCI-008/2007

For Sale! DVD All issues of the Collective Volume of Scientific Papers. The Best of ICCAT-SCRS Atlantic Tuna “Billboard Top-40” Vol 60 Coll. Vol. Sci. Pap. Statistical Bulletin 36 the Biennial report ( ) Part I ASFA abstract submission ICCAT Newsletter (2)

STATISTICAL BULLETIN – BULLETIN STATISTIQUE – BOLETÍN ESTADÍSTICO Vol.36 ( )

STATISTICAL BULLETIN – BULLETIN STATISTIQUE – BOLETÍN ESTADÍSTICO Vol.36 ( )

STATISTICAL BULLETIN – BULLETIN STATISTIQUE – BOLETÍN ESTADÍSTICO Vol.36 ( )

 SCRS-07/152: a summary of sport and recreational fisheries in the ICCAT database. ◦ Gears selected:  SP (sport fishery), and  RR (rod and reel).  Updated Table Survey (1997) that identified recreational fisheries by party and species by scientist present at Sub-Comm meeting.

 Not all parties have collected and/or reported recreational statistics to ICCAT for all years and species.  Several parties do not have the mechanism or the infrastructure to collect reliable Sport-Recreational catch and effort data.  ICCAT Database ◦ The gear rod and reel (RR) is NOT reported exclusively as a recreational gear (sometimes defined as a non-commercial removal). ◦ RR - commercial operation ◦ RR - artisanal operation ◦ Therefore, it may not be feasible to discriminate between recreational and non-recreational catches under the RR gear code.

CountryGearSportSpeciesCatchCPUESizeRemarks BrasilRRSportBILX Partially monitored. CanadaRRSportBFT100%Partial The latest catch of BFT from RR was commercial Sharks There is no mechanism to separate sport vs. commercial Cap-Vert Recreationa l Sport catch is increasing but no data Cote d'Ivoire SportBillfish Sport fishery stopped since 2000 due to civil war FranceRRSportBFT Opportunistic evaluations. Could be obteined from fishing tournaments. In Martinique & Guadeloupe there are recreational fishery but data is not available. See also SCRS/2006/????? TROLSportBFT UNCLArtisanal BFT (bycatch)EstimatesNone Spain Recreationa l BFT x 7.8 t of BFT caught in Mediter. during In Gulf of Vizcaya there are recreational fisheries targeting ALB and Billfish in Canary. ALL sport fishery catching BFT should be reported. ALB BILL Japan None in the Atlantic Ocean Korea None ItalyLLSportSWOPartialPoor GILLSportSMTPartialPoor HLSportBFTPartialNonePoor HLSportSMTOccasionalNonePoor RRSportBFTPartialOccasionalPartial

CountryGearSportSpeciesCatchCPUESize Remarks MarocRRSportBILL SenegalRRSportSAI, BONXXX SportLTA, BON S. TomeLLArtisanalBILLX X UK-BermudaRRSportBUMXXEstimates Occasional survey of recreational fishery SportVHMXX USARRSportYFTXXX Various degrees of precision, but all species monitored SportBFTXXX SportALBXXX SportBLMXXX SportWHMXXX SportSAIXXX SportBETXXX SportKGMXXX SportSSMXXX SportSWOXXX SportWAHXXX SportSKJXXX SportBONXXX SportBLTXXX SportSMTXXX SportSharksXXX Venezuela SportBill. There are catches of billfishes Uruguay No Sport fishery AntiguaTR, RRsportTunas+BILLXXX BarbadosTR, RRSportTunas+BILLXXX BelizeTR, RRSportTunas DominicaTR, RRSportTunas+BILL GrenadaTR, RRSportTunas+BILLX X (BIL) GuyanaHL, TR, GILLArtisanalTunasXXX JamaicaTR, RRSportTunas+BILLX X (BIL) St. KittsTR, RRSportTunas+BILL St. LuciaTR, RRSportTunas+BILLX TrinidadHL, TR, RRSportTunas+BILLX Chinese Taipei None.

 The Commission should provide additional human resources to the Secretariat for: a) database management and database extractions, b) webpage maintenance and update.  The Sub-Committee recommends the upgrade of servers and software for the Secretariat.  The Sub-Committee recommends that full documentation of the ICCAT database and advanced training for additional personnel be a priority.  The Sub-Committee recommends that the Secretariat coordinate with scientists from the US to arrange for a Secretariat database manager to travel to the Miami Laboratory to develop an efficient protocol to update and transfer tagging data. This should occur as soon as possible.

 In order to avoid duplications of fishing effort, the Sub-Committee recommended that Task II data from multi-species fisheries be submitted for all species combined, rather than by individual species.  The Sub-Committee recognized the need to hasten the translation of ICCAT web pages to other official languages of the Commission. Therefore, the Sub-Committee urged the Secretariat to start the process and reiterated the recommendation that the Commission provide additional human resources to the Secretariat for this purpose.  The Sub-Committee requested that the Secretariat purchase better commercial software for mapping, spatial analysis and data presentation.  The Sub-Committee recommended that its meetings continue to be scheduled prior to the meetings of the Species Groups and requested the participation of the Chairs of the Species Groups to address specific concerns regarding statistics.

 The Sub-Committee discussed the need for a protocol that describes the appropriate estimation of unreported landings from trade statistics and how to include these data in the ICCAT database. It also recommended that the limitations of the trade data be identified, the process of trade data generation and its accuracy be determined, and methods to incorporate these data during SCRS evaluations be developed.