CECAF CAPTURE PRODUCTION

The CECAF (Fishery Committee for the Eastern Central Atlantic) database presents annual statistics allocated by (i) countries or areas, (ii) species items, and (iii) statistical divisions, of capture production in the Eastern Central Atlantic region for calendar years starting with 1970.

The data exclude production from marine aquaculture practices. The database does not contain statistics for marine mammals, miscellaneous aquatic animal products, and seaweeds.

Data include all quantities caught and landed for both food and feed purposes but exclude discards, live escapements or losses prior to landings. Catches of fish, crustaceans and molluscs are expressed in live weight, that is the nominal weight of the aquatic organisms at the time of capture. Data are given in tonnes (=1000 kg).

To assign nationality to catches, the flag of the fishing vessel performing the essential part of the fishing operation is used, unless the wording of chartering and joint operation contracts indicates otherwise.

Several countries still report their catches by large groups of species. In these circumstances the catch data presented by individual species items are likely to be underestimated. Therefore, when examining the statistics for a particular species, it should be noted that an unknown proportion of the catches for that species might have been reported by the national office under the generic, family or order name of the species, or even more roughly as "fishes not identified". Consequently, species item totals frequently underestimate the real catch of the individual species.

For statistical purposes the CECAF region, which coincides with FAO fishing area "34 - Eastern Central Atlantic", has been split into four subareas, further sub-divided into twelve divisions. The boundaries of these subareas and divisions are shown in a map that can be accessed through VIEW/SHOW METADATA/ATTACHMENTS from the main menu. Below is the list of subareas and divisions.

34 1 - NORTHERN COASTAL subarea, which includes three divisions:

34 2 - NORTHERN OCEANIC subarea, which includes only one divisions:

34 3 - SOUTHERN COASTAL subarea, which includes six divisions:

34 4 - SOUTHERN OCEANIC subarea, which includes two divisions:

Tuna catches are not allocated according to CECAF statistical divisions and are grouped together into a division named "Tunas" (34 0 0). Two other divisions, namely "Northern coastal, not known" (34 1 9) and "Not known" (34 9 0), contain catches for which is not exactly known the statistical division.

Where necessary, any data published in previous releases of this dataset have been revised. Where the figures in the current release differ from those previously published, the amended data represent the most recent version. Some statistics provided to FAO by national offices, in particular those for the last year, are provisional and may be amended in future editions.

Discrepancies might occur in certain instances of this regional dataset when compared to the data in "Global Capture Production", due to a different updating timeframe.

SYMBOLS USED

Please note that, starting with the release 2024, the symbols used are aligned with SDMX standard.

Symbols associated to value " 0 ":

You can customize the display of the symbols by accessing to Format/Symbols and Colors.

You can customize the export of the data in order to remove the symbols by accessing to Edit/Preferences/Data export.

Please note that «I» is not a valid flag for aggregated data, replaced by «E». More information about the standard flags used in this dataset are available at the following link Statistical Standard Series: Observation Status Code List.

CITATION

When quoting FishstatJ data, please use the following reference:

FAO. 2026. FishStat: CECAF (Eastern Central Atlantic) capture production 1970-2024. [Accessed on 30 June 2026]. In: FishStatJ. Available at www.fao.org/fishery/en/statistics/software/fishstatj. Licence: CC-BY-4.0.

For a correct citation, please revise the date you accessed the data.

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The designations employed and the presentation of material in this information product do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) concerning the legal or development status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. The mention of specific companies or products of manufacturers, whether or not these have been patented, does not imply that these have been endorsed or recommended by FAO in preference to others of a similar nature that are not mentioned.

FAO declines all responsibility for errors or deficiencies in the database or software or in the documentation accompanying it, for program maintenance and upgrading as well as for any damage that may arise from them. FAO also declines any responsibility for updating the data and assumes no responsibility for errors and omissions in the data provided. Users are, however, kindly asked to report any errors or deficiencies in this product to FAO.

The word "countries" appearing in the text refers to countries, territories and areas without distinction.

The designations employed and the presentation of material in the map(s) do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of FAO concerning the legal or constitutional status of any country, territory or sea area, or concerning the delimitation of frontiers.

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