Estimation of Unreported Catches by ICCAT

1. Estimation of Unreported Catches by ICCAT Víctor Restrepo (ICCAT, Madrid) OECD IUU Workshop Paris, 19-20 April, 2004

2. Outline • Scope • Statistical Document Programs • Case study: Bluefin tuna • Other estimates • Concluding remarks

3. Scope • Unreported catches: "Not reported" or "misreported" (to ICCAT) (Par. 3.2.2 IPOA). The SCRS estimates these. • Unreported catches are not necessarily "IUU". The Commission decides what constitutes IUU fishing. - Main focus: iUu, not on illegal or unregulated.

4. Statistical Document Programs (SDP) • Purpose: To track imports into Contracting Parties and Cooperators (CPCs) • Bilateral process: one SD per [vessel/shipment] • Regional process: CPCs inform who can validate SDs; CPCs send biannual summaries to Secretariat

5. SDP 1992: SDP-BFT for frozen products [Rec 92-01] 1993: SDP-BFT extended to fresh products [Rec 93-03] 1997: SDP-BFT extended to re-exports [Rec 97-04] 2001: SDP-BET with exception for canneries [Rec 01-21] 2001: SDP-SWO established [Rec 01-22] 2003: All SDPs linked to Vessel List and Farming And many other resolutions, primarily on how to interpret/apply/validate SDPs.

6. Case study: Bluefin Most international trade of BFT goes to Japan. Most Japanese imports are from Contracting Parties to ICCAT that report their catch statistics

7. Case study: Bluefin At least 50% to 60% of the catch of Atlantic bluefin is traded according to the SDP data reported to ICCAT

8. Case study: Bluefin General formulation: NEI = A – B – C – 0.8 D NEI = “not elsewhere included” (i.e., “unreported”) A = Reported to ICCAT B = Imports to USA C = Imports to Japan from wild fish D = Imports to Japan from farming

9. Case study: Bluefin General formulation: NEI = A – B – C – 0.8 D reported wild imports farmed imports (before growth) NEI positive: OK NEI negative: Evidence of unreported catch

10. Case study: Bluefin Conversion factors are applied, except for farmed belly meat (to diminish risks of double-counting when bellies are shipped separately from other products)

11. Case study: Bluefin Conversion Factors used to calculate “round weight”: Belly meat (wild) x 10.28 Dressed weight x 1.25 Fillets x 1.67 Gilled and gutted x 1.16 Others x 2.00

12. Case study: Bluefin The general formulation is not fixed. It is adapted to new situations. For most individual countries, calculations are aggregated for all gears. This may change if the description of Gear becomes more accurate. A regional “NEI combined” is calculated to aggregate data from nine Mediterranean countries that are involved in farming or in fishing-for-farming. This is an adaptation to the current industry situation.

13. Case study: Bluefin The result of applying the formulation suggests that 1% to 5% of Atlantic bluefin catches go unreported.

14. Case study: Bluefin Using SDP-NEI estimates as a basis to quantify misreported catches is still an imprecise tool because of uncertainties: - Conversion factors and double-counting - SDP coverage is probably less than 100% - Use of highly aggregated data does not allow to verify details Using SDP-NEI estimates as a basis to infer unreported catches is a useful tool.

15. Other estimates - SDP-BET and SDP-SWO are still at the early stages of implementation and have not been used. - NEI catches for BET have been obtained from Japanese import statistics.

16. Other estimates - Estimates of NEI catches for BET have oscillated between 4% and 24% of the total catch.

17. Concluding remarks • The “S” in SDP is somewhat misleading because the program does not yield statistics of quantifiable precision and accuracy. “Catch documentation programs”?

18. Concluding remarks • The “S” in SDP is somewhat misleading because the program does not yield statistics of quantifiable precision and accuracy. “Catch documentation programs”? • The SDP for bluefin tuna has been very useful to infer unreported catches.

19. Concluding remarks • The “S” in SDP is somewhat misleading because the program does not yield statistics of quantifiable precision and accuracy. “Catch documentation programs”? • The SDP for bluefin tuna has been very useful to infer unreported catches. • The SDPs for bigeye and swordfish will likely become useful in one year or two.

20. Concluding remarks • The “S” in SDP is somewhat misleading because the program does not yield statistics of quantifiable precision and accuracy. “Catch documentation programs”? • The SDP for bluefin tuna has been very useful to infer unreported catches. • The SDPs for bigeye and swordfish will likely become useful in one year or two. • SDPs cannot operate in a vacuum. Their application and the interpretation of the information collected needs to adapt to current practices.

21. Concluding remarks • The “S” in SDP is somewhat misleading because the program does not yield statistics of quantifiable precision and accuracy. “Catch documentation programs”? • The SDP for bluefin tuna has been very useful to infer unreported catches. • The SDPs for bigeye and swordfish will likely become useful in one year or two. • SDPs cannot operate in a vacuum. Their application and the interpretation of the information collected needs to adapt to current practices. • Global application of tuna SDPs is being accomplished to close some gaps. Global interpretation of SDP data could close even more gaps.