The IOTC reference data, including code lists and geospatial reference datasets, can be accessed through several complementary methods. The IOTC Reference Data Catalogue provides the primary web interface for browsing these resources through interactive tables and downloading tabular datasets as CSV files, and geospatial datasets in ESRI Shapefile and GeoPackage (GPKG) formats.

For automated workflows and programmatic access, the reference data are also available through direct downloads from the IOTC data server, through the IOTC GitHub repository, which provides version-controlled datasets and an R data package, and through the Fisheries Data Interoperability Working Group (FDIWG) GitHub repository, where IOTC code lists are maintained in tabular formats aligned with other CWP reference standards.

An archived version of the IOTC code lists is also available on Zenodo, ensuring long-term preservation and citation through a persistent Digital Object Identifier (DOI). The datasets can be downloaded directly from the Zenodo record or retrieved programmatically using R. The version of the reference data described in this catalogue corresponds to the DOI release indicated in the page header.

The sections below describe the different access methods and provide examples of how the datasets can be retrieved and used, including examples in R for downloading tabular and spatial reference datasets.

Return back to the list of reference data domains.

IOTC Reference Data Catalogue

Web Interface

The Reference Data Catalogue provides interactive tables for each code list.

Browse and search code lists directly in the catalogue interface
Download individual code lists as CSV files
Download spatial layers as GPKG and ESRI Shapefile formats.

This interface is the easiest way to explore the available reference data.

Direct Download from the IOTC Server

Tabular Data

Code lists in CSV format can be accessed directly from the IOTC server.

The general URL template is:

https://data.iotc.org/reference/latest/domain/<domain_name>/codelists/<codelist_name>_<codelist_version>.csv

Domains currently available include: admin, fisheries, biology, economics, data, legacy.

Examples in R

# Fishing fleet code list from admin domain
cl_fleets <- utils::read.csv("https://data.iotc.org/reference/latest/domain/admin/codelists/FLEETS_1.0.0.csv")

# Display code list first rows
head(cl_fleets)

##   CODE              NAME_EN             NAME_FR CPC_CODE FLAG_CODE
## 1  ARE United Arab Emirates Émirats arabes unis                ARE
## 2  AUS            Australia           Australie      AUS       AUS
## 3  BGD           Bangladesh          Bangladesh      BGD       BGD
## 4  BHR              Bahrain             Bahreïn                BHR
## 5  BLZ               Belize              Belize                BLZ
## 6  CHN                China               Chine      CHN       CHN

# Vessel type code list from fisheries domain
cl_vessel_types <- utils::read.csv("https://data.iotc.org/reference/latest/domain/fisheries/codelists/VESSEL_TYPES_1.0.0.csv")

# Turtle species code list from biology domain
cl_turtles <- utils::read.csv("https://data.iotc.org/reference/latest/domain/biology/codelists/SPECIES_TURTLES_1.0.1.csv")

# Currencies code list from economic domain
cl_currencies <- utils::read.csv("https://data.iotc.org/reference/latest/domain/economics/codelists/COUNTRIES_CURRENCIES_1.0.0.csv")

# Discard data source code list from data domain
cl_data_sources_di <- utils::read.csv("https://data.iotc.org/reference/latest/domain/data/codelists/DATA_SOURCES_DI_1.0.0.csv")

Geospatial Data

Geospatial reference datasets are available from the IOTC data server in GeoPackage (GPKG) and ESRI Shapefile formats.

Example in R

## Example of R script for extracting the National Jurisdiction Areas
NJA_AREAS_SF <- sf::st_read("https://data.iotc.org/reference/latest/domain/admin/shapefiles/IO_NJA_AREAS_1.0.1.gpkg")

## Reading layer `IO_NJA_AREAS_1.0.1' from data source 
##   `https://data.iotc.org/reference/latest/domain/admin/shapefiles/IO_NJA_AREAS_1.0.1.gpkg' using driver `GPKG'
## Simple feature collection with 42 features and 8 fields
## Geometry type: MULTIPOLYGON
## Dimension:     XY
## Bounding box:  xmin: 20 ymin: -56.5246 xmax: 150 ymax: 30.5192
## Geodetic CRS:  WGS 84

# Visualise the spatial layer
plot(NJA_AREAS_SF["code"])

IOTC GitHub repository

The IOTC code lists are also available through the IOTC GitHub repository, which provides:

an R data package
the underlying .rda datasets
full version control of the reference data.

Repository: https://github.com/iotc-secretariat/iotc-data-reference-codelists

Installation as an R Package

The IOTC code lists are available as an R data package, which can be installed directly from GitHub.

# Install the package
install.packages("remotes")
remotes::install_github("iotc-secretariat/iotc-data-reference-codelists")

# Load the package
library(iotc.data.reference.codelists)

# List available datasets
data(package = "iotc.data.reference.codelists")

# Access a dataset
iotc.data.reference.codelists::FLEETS

Direct Download of R Data Objects

Individual datasets can also be downloaded directly from GitHub.

# Define code list name
dataset <- "AREAS_OF_OPERATION"

# Create URL
url <- paste0(
  "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/iotc-secretariat/iotc-data-reference-codelists/master/data/",
  dataset,
  ".rda"
)

# Generic function for download
load_github_rda <- function(url) {
  tmp <- tempfile(fileext = ".rda")
  download.file(url, tmp, mode = "wb")
  load(tmp, envir = .GlobalEnv)
}

# Load the dataset
load_github_rda(url)

Cloning the Repository

To access all code lists locally, clone the repository:

git clone https://github.com/iotc-secretariat/iotc-data-reference-codelists.git

Install the Package from a Local Clone

After cloning the repository:

Open the project folder in RStudio (open the .Rproj file if available)
Install the package locally:

devtools::install()

FDIWG GitHub Repository

The IOTC code lists are available in tabular CSV format from the Fisheries Data Interoperability Working Group repository, in formats aligned with other CWP code lists.

Repository: https://github.com/fdiwg/fdi-codelists/tree/main/regional/iotc.

Direct CSV Download

Browse files on GitHub and download CSVs individually.

Download via R

Code lists can be accessed directly from GitHub using R:

domain <- "admin"
codelist <- "cl_fleets"

url <- paste0(
  "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/fdiwg/fdi-codelists/main/regional/iotc/",
  domain, "/", codelist, ".csv"
)

cl <- utils::read.csv(url)
head(cl)

Cloning the Repository

To access all code lists locally, clone the repository:

git clone https://github.com/fdiwg/fdi-codelists.git

Zenodo Repository

The IOTC code lists are archived on Zenodo to ensure long-term preservation and citation through a persistent digital object identifier (DOI).

Repository: https://zenodo.org/records/15743875

Direct Download

All datasets can be downloaded directly from the Zenodo record interface as archived files.

Access via R

The datasets can also be accessed programmatically using the zen4R R package. They are available in CSV, Parquet, and RDA formats, and are typically downloaded as ZIP archives.

Examples in R

# Install package
install.packages("zen4R")

library(zen4R)

# Retrieve the code lists in CSV format
download_zenodo(doi = "https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15743874", files = "iotc_codelists_csv.zip")

# Retrieve the code lists in parquet format
download_zenodo(doi = "https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15743874", files = "iotc_codelists_parquet.zip")

Accessing IOTC Reference Data

Author: IOTC Secretariat

IOTC Reference Data Catalogue

Web Interface

Direct Download from the IOTC Server

Tabular Data

Examples in R

Geospatial Data

Example in R

IOTC GitHub repository

Installation as an R Package

Direct Download of R Data Objects

Cloning the Repository

Install the Package from a Local Clone

FDIWG GitHub Repository

Direct CSV Download

Download via R

Cloning the Repository

Zenodo Repository

Direct Download

Access via R

Examples in R