Outside of any standards proposed or established by FisheryStandards.org, several organizations have already established or are actively pursuing standards for fisheries data. They include the CWP (United Nations), European Commission (EU), ICES (Europe), the ACCSP (United States) and AFMA (Australia).
CWP (Food and Agriculture Organization of the U.N., Fisheries and Aquacutlure Department)
The Coordinating Working Party on Fishery Statistics provides a mechanism to coordinate fishery statistical programmes of regional fishery bodies and other inter-governmental organizations with a remit for fishery statistics.
Functional since 1960, the CWP’s purpose is to:
• continually review fishery statistics requirements for research, policy-making and management;
• agree on standard concepts, definitions, classifications and methodologies for the collection and collation of fishery statistics;
• make proposals for the coordnation and streamlining of statistical activities among relevant intergovernmental organizations.
The CWP’s website can be found at: http://www.cwpnet.org.
An online version of the CWP’s Handbook of Fishery Statistical Standards can be accessed at: http://www.fao.org/fishery/cwp/search/en.
Other CWP publications can be found at: http://www.fao.org/fishery/cwp/sessions/en and http://www.fao.org/fishery/cwp/documents/en.
European Commission
The European Commission has introduced regulations requiring all European Union member nations to submit fishing logbook data electronically, with the first phase of implementation to take place in January, 2010.
E-logbook requirements can be found on the fisheries website of the European Commission at: http://ec.europa.eu/fisheries/cfp/control_enforcement/ers_en.htm.
Specific XML schema data can be found in the regulations document at:
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2008:295:0003:0019:EN:PDF.
ICES
The International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) coordinates and promotes marine research on oceanography, the marine environment, the marine ecosystem, and on living marine resources in the North Atlantic.
In July, 2009, ICES published a paper: “Definition of Standard Data-Exchange Format for Sampling, Landings, and Effort Data from Commercial Fisheries”, which defines an XML format for fisheries data. The format is described in the paper’s executive summary as follows:
A data format for sampling, landings, and effort data from commercial fisheries is defined and suggested as a standard for the exchange of data between partners in the community of fishery research, advice, and management of the Northeast Atlantic, including the Mediterranean and Black seas.
The report can be accessed at: http://www.ices.dk/pubs/crr/crr296/CRR%20296.pdf.
ACCSP
The Atlantic Coastal Cooperative Statistics Program ”is a cooperative state-federal program to design, implement, and conduct marine fisheries statistics data collection programs and to integrate those data into a single data management system that will meet the needs of fishery managers, scientists and fishermen”.
The ACCSP has established data collection standards for commercial fisheries, “for-hire” fisheries, and recreational fisheries throughout the Atlantic Coast of the United States. The standards identify the type of data to be collected, data collection systems and methods to be used, and the frequency with which data should be collected.
The ACCSP’s website is at: http://www.accsp.org.
AFMA
The Australian Fisheries Management Authority (AFMA) is introducing electronic logbooks as an alternative method for the reporting of catch and effort by fishers. The AFMA has published its e-log specifications (based upon the XML format) in order to facilitate the development of e-log software by third-party vendors.
The specifications are available at: http://www.afma.gov.au/industry/logbooks/guide_vendors.htm
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