As a regional fisheries management organization, the GFCM receives, reviews, stores and uses data and information on Mediterranean and Black Sea resources needed for the formulation of scientific advice and consequent decision-making on fisheries management.

The GFCM currently requires data on:

1. Global figures of national fisheries
2. Catch (landing data; catch data per species; fishing activities, landing points and designated ports in the context of GFCM management plans)
3. Incidental catch of vulnerable species
4. Fishing fleet (including authorized vessels in the context of GFCM management plans)
5. Fishing effort (fleet segments; fishing gears; catch per unit effort)
6. Socio-economics (economic and social data; operating costs; species value)
7. Biological information (stock assessment input data; length data; size at first maturity; maturity data; dolphinfish; red coral; European eel; ecosystem indicators)

Contracting Parties and Cooperating Non-Contracting Parties (CPCs) collect this data at a national level then submit it to the GFCM Secretariat through the Data Collection Reference Framework (DCRF) online platform, annually or biennially according to a set transmission calendar.

Data not currently covered by GFCM recommendations that has been collected in the context of national, cross-national, regional and international initiatives, research programmes and projects (whether with the GFCM or independently) can be shared by any stakeholder within GFCM working groups and scientific advisory committees, thus contributing to the formulation of scientific advice.

Ensuring the quality of the data collected and transmitted to the Secretariat in line with relevant GFCM requirements and recommendations is crucial for solid science-based decision-making and compliance. Five different quality indicators – timeliness, completeness, conformity, stability, and consistency – are currently applied in the GFCM context, to data submitted in response to Recommendations GFCM/41/2017/6 on the submission of data on fishing activities in the GCM area of application, GFCM/33/2009/5 on the establishment of the GFCM regional fleet register, GFCM/33/2009/6 concerning the establishment of a GFCM record of vessels over 15 metres authorised to operate in the GFCM area of application, GFCM/43/2019/4 on the ban of single-use plastics in all GFCM meetings, GFCM/43/2019/4 on a management plan for the sustainable exploitation of red coral in the Mediterranean Sea, directly on the DCRF online platform. The only data officially transmitted to the Secretariat and not yet subject to quality assessments are stock assessment input data.