Cooperation

International cooperation in the standardization of statistical data centers on a body known as the Coordinating Working Party on Fisheries Statistics (CWP) , for which the Food and Agriculture Organization provides the secretariat. The CWP has evolved from its origins as the "Continuing Working Party" of a meeting of experts on fisheries statistics in 1959, called by various international organisations to co-ordinate the collection of fishery statistics for the North Atlantic and to establish common definitions and classifications.

Since then the CWP has extended its area of interest to cover marine fisheries globally and its membership has been extended to reflect this. It retains much of its original purpose, as it seeks to keep under continuous review the requirements for fishery statistics for research, policy-making and management. It agrees to standard concepts, definitions, classifications and methodologies for the collection and collation of fishery statistics, and makes proposals for the co-ordination of statistical activities amongst relevant intergovernmental organizations.

The FAO uses the FISHSTAT reporting system to collate global fisheries statistics. The FAO has developed a Web-based Fisheries Global Information System (FIGIS), through which access to all FAO fishery statistics is possible. Data is intended to provide management with a reliable basis for the interlinked domains of policy, planning and implementation. It is necessary, therefore, to consider the full range of data requirements for an information system from which the three interlinked domains can draw. This suggests the need to extend data collection for the purpose of also providing economic, financial and socio-cultural information.

Related Resources