Central America

FAO FishCode-STF - OSPESCA Regional Workshop on the Improvement of Fishery Data and Information Collection Systems – 23–26 January 2006, El Salvador

OBJECTIVES OF THE WORKSHOP

For the workshop 25 participants from Belize, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, and Panama were invited.

OSPESCA COUNTRIES

The major objective of the workshop was to improve fisheries data collection systems in the region to support:

• better policy development,
• better decision-making,
• and responsible fisheries management.

The workshop was expected to deliver the following outcomes:

1. Regional synthesis and comparative analysis of covering major aspects of fisheries data and information systems in the Central American and Caribbean region;
2. Recommendations on future directions and immediate follow-up actions, including those related to information needs, areas for improvement, and needs for capacity building within the region;
3. Recommendations for pilot activities to test new monitoring systems within the region.

WORKSHOP REPORTS

Click the items below to download documents.

• Working papers and agenda
• Workshop proceedings
• Visit the OSPESCA website

Back to the global results of inventory of fisheries monitoring systems

RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE WORKSHOP

INDUSTRIAL FISHERIES

1. For data collection, the workshop recommends:
   • To promote the establishment of inter-institutional cooperation, incorporating the private sector and fishing organizations.
   • To formalize the flows of information and data, for example through agreements.
   • To evaluate and to improve the existing communication channels between the offices responsible for the fishing statistics and the production sector.
   • To motivate the actors in the fishing sector with the creation of an ample network for exchange of data and dissemination of information.
   • To strengthen and standardize the protocols for exchange of data.
2. The workshop recognized the lack of integrated systems of data processing in most of the countries of the region. A further diagnosis of the existing systems and exchange of experiences between the countries is recommended.
3. The workshop recognizes the existence of problems on reliability in the data collected from industrial fisheries, which is mainly attributed to: a) lack of application of fisheries monitoring obligations, (b) the ignorance of the fishers on the importance of providing data, (c) the lack of access (due to confidentiality) to primary data of the companies and (d) the distortion of information due to fiscal reason.
4. Institutional strengthening is recommended through:
   • To sensitize to the authorities on the necessity and importance of collecting of statistical data. Raise awareness on the FAO strategy for improving information on status and trends of captured fisheries, adopted by all the countries of the region.
   • Dissemination of the legal instruments that establish the obligatory nature to provide reliable information on all the activities related to the fishing sector.
5. The creation of a regional work group on statistics is recommended to: a) identify and design standardized methodologies (b) to establish minimum indicators by country and to examine the possibility of standardisation at regional level, (c) to create a regional electronic network to support the exchanges of information between the members of the working group, (d) to review used conversion factors, to compare and to apply them.
6. In order to improve the coverage of landings, it is recommended to develop and implement improved monitoring systems in collaboration with the fishing industry and fishing communities.
7. The workshop group recognizes the lack of validation processes for collected data and recommends to develop systems for inter-institutional crosschecking of data, as well as the development and implementation of random and systematic verification sampling schemes.

ARTISANAL FISHERIES

1. Participants unanimously agreed that artisanal fisheries were important activities in the region in terms of food security and income generation and employment. All countries have been monitoring artisanal fisheries and the workshop evaluated current practices in the region with regard to the following major groups of indicators: production (catch), fishing effort and socio-economic aspects.
2. Participants noted that there are limitations and shortcomings with data collection methods applied for artisanal fisheries in the region, particularly in i) obtaining the structural information (e.g. number of fishers and number of fishing vessels) and ii) obtaining the operational indicators (e.g. catch and efforts). In order to address this matter, the workshop provided the following recommendations: For improvement of the structural information:
   • Describe for each country current available information the data source and collection method.
   • Identify shortcomings of the current set of data.
   • Develop activities to improve availability of structural information.
3. Collection of the operational information on artisanal fisheries should be placed in a broader context and information requirements for the artisanal sector as a whole should be formulated. In this process, it is important to apply a multi-sectoral approach.
4. The working group recognizes the importance of the involvement of local stakeholders in the data collection system for small scale fisheries, and encourages actions in this direction.
5. Recommended actions described above are in line with the main activities envisaged by the FAO FishCode-STF Project, and will therefore be supported in close coordination with on-going and planned OSPESCA activities.