(Item 12 of the Agenda)
125. The document APCAS/98/14 “Progress on the implementation of the Guidelines on the Collection of Structural Aquaculture Statistics - Supplement to the Programme for the World Census of Agriculture 2000” (hereafter referred to as the Supplement) was presented to the Commission by the Aquaculture Statistician from Fisheries Information and Data Unit, FAO, Rome.
126. The Commission was given an overview of the following: (i) the importance of aquaculture in the Asian region and the role it played in food production at the national level; (ii) progress on dissemination of the Supplement; (iii) uptake of the Supplement; and (iv) advantages of including aquaculture as a Supplement to the census of agriculture.
127. The Commission was informed that in 1996 Asia accounted for over 91% of global aquaculture production and that at the national level, aquaculture could make a significant contribution to total fisheries production. In China for example, aquaculture accounted for up to 62% of total fisheries production; therefore aquaculture was of high importance as a food production sector.
128. The Commission was informed that the English version of the Supplement had been published and disseminated to relevant national agricultural and fisheries offices in January -February of 1998 and the French, Arabic and Spanish versions should be printed by the end of this year (1998). In addition, the commission was informed that the feasibility of translating the Supplement in Chinese was currently being explored.
129. The Commission was informed that as the Supplement to the Programme for the WCA 2000 was relatively new, the momentum of its uptake was likely to become clear in the next biennium and beyond. In particular it was pointed out that the Supplement made provisions for collecting structural information on aquaculture either as an independent aquaculture census or, as in the case of some countries with their fisheries census or as part of their agricultural census programme. The commission was further informed that irrespective of the mode of collection, the adoption of the guidelines in the Supplement should be encouraged as it provided harmonised terminology and definitions for the collection of structural information on aquaculture.
130. The Commission was informed that although the need for including aquaculture in the Programme for the WCA 2000 was acknowledged by countries, the extent to which the Supplement was incorporated to date might also depend on the timing of preparatory activities for the national census. In China, for example, preparation for the 1997 Census of Agriculture, which included fisheries questions, preceded the Supplement and so it was not possible for it to be fully considered in their census programme. Nevertheless, the Supplement provided important guidelines for harmonising the definitions for the fisheries questions and the Commission was pleased to note that the definitions would be considered.
131. The Commission was informed that even though the Supplement was relatively new, the importance of aquaculture and capture fisheries was recognised by FAO member countries and that China and India had included elements of these activities in their census programmes. Three of the four questionnaires used for the preliminary trial of the First National Agricultural Census of China contained at least one direct question on fisheries.
132. The Commission was further informed that in India, the collection of quantitative structural information on aquaculture could not be included as part of their agricultural census but discussions were underway to evaluate the feasibility of including aquaculture items as part of the livestock census.
133. The Commission was made aware of the serious problems faced by many countries in the region on developing methodologies for conducting aquaculture surveys and took note of the emphasis placed by countries for FAO to provide guidelines on the collection of structural as well production statistics.
134. The Commission was pleased to learn that countries such as China and India would actively pursue the inclusion of aquaculture census items in their future programmes. The Commission further noted the interest of several other countries to explore the feasibility, mechanisms and logistics of collecting quantitative structural information on aquaculture.
135. The Commission recommended that to increase the probability of uptake, the relevant offices responsible for agricultural census should be made aware of the Supplement and encouraged to collaborate closer with the relevant fisheries offices.
136. The training of enumerators was recognised as being important. The Commission recommended that as the enumerators may be new or unfamiliar with the full spectrum of aquaculture activities, countries including aquaculture in their agricultural census should involve national experts in aquaculture and fishery statistics in the planning and execution phase of the agricultural census.
137. The Commission recommended, in view of the long term nature of the census activities, that FAO also consider developing guidelines or harmonised indicators and terminologies for aquaculture for use in inter- censal surveys
