Tuna catch data in FAO's Fisheries Global Information System (FIGIS)

摘要

Since 1952 FAO has been collecting annual catch data for all marine and freshwater species including tuna and tuna-like species. These data, grouped by fishing country and FAO statistical area, are mostly being obtained directly from fishing countries. The Marine Resources Service (FIRM) of the FAO Fisheries Department has independently been collating from the tuna fishery bodies and other regional and national institutions: El annual catch data for principal market tunas by stock and fishing gear (since 2001), and catch data for principal market tunas and some billfishes by fishing gear, 5°x 5° square and quarter of year (since 1997). These statistics are not necessarily official, but are regarded by these institutions as the most representative.All the above mentioned data are available from FAO's Fisheries Global Information System (FIGIS) in the form of individual values, their plots and maps. In general, the two data sets of tuna nominal catches are very similar. The discrepancies between them and the 5° x 5° catch data are the result of: (i) the latter data only accounting for longline, pole-and-line and purse-seine fishing; (ii) not including catches of unknown or poorly known locations in the latter data (e.g. many artisanal and somecommercial fisheries), and (iii) from the exclusion, in the latter data, of those catches that were available not by weight but by number of fish.