The CWP, supported by the participating organizations, serves as the premier international and interorganizational forum for agreeing common definitions, classifications and standards for the collection of fishery and aquaculture statistics. It has developed common procedures for statistics collation which have streamlined processes and reduced the burden on the statistical offices of national fisheries and aquaculture production, as well as providing technical advice to participating organizations on fishery-related and aquaculture-related statistical matters, and facilitating the publication of methodological and reference documents.
Highlights
The Twenty-Eighth Session of the Coordinating Working Party on Fishery Statistics (CWP-28) and the Intersessional Meeting of the Aquaculture and Fishery Subject Groups (CWP-IS) were held in Copenhagen, Denmark and online, 2-4 July 2025. Fourteen CWP member organizations participated in these meetings and three other regional organizations participated as observers. CWP-IS reviewed the work of seven ad-hoc Task Groups (TGs) which are developing 1) catch concepts, 2) fishing effort concepts, 3) reference harmonization for capture fishery and aquaculture statistics, 4) geospatial matters, 5) best practices for managing confidential data, 6) characterization of small-scale fisheries and 7) the aquaculture section of the CWP Handbook. On-going activities and future work were developed and presented to CWP-28 for further consideration. Activities and workplans for the TGs were endorsed for the intersessional period 2025-2028 and two new TGs were established to review the use of conversion factors and further develop the CWP website. CWP-28 also discussed revisions to the Aquatic Sciences and Fisheries Information System (ASFIS) List of Species for Fishery Statistics Purposes, the International Standard Statistical Classification of Fishing Gear and activities of CWP parties in support of CWP’s work. Meeting documents and presentations are available on the CWP meetings webpage.
The CWP Handbook of Fishery Statistics
The CWP Handbook documents the core business of CWP including the statistical concepts, classifications, data exchange protocols and codes which are recommended by CWP for use in capture fishery and aquaculture statistics globally. There are also related pages on information sharing practices which outline approaches needed to establish harmonized statistics, and pages on regional references which set out CWP Members’ best practices in implementing CWP recommendations.
Click on the tabs above or the highlighted sections below to explore the Handbook and related pages.
