Following Article XI of the Agreement for the establishment of the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC), Contracting Parties and Cooperating Non-Contracting Parties (CPCs) are required to collect and report fisheries data in accordance with the Conservation and Management Measures (CMMs). To manage the data received from CPCs and other parties fishing in the IOTC area of competence for IOTC-managed species, the Secretariat has developed specific reporting forms for each dataset. The forms include all mandatory metadata, data fields, and information on IOTC formats and standard code lists available from the IOTC Reference Data Catalogue.
At its 26th session, the IOTC Scientific Committee endorsed the adoption of new reporting forms to streamline data flow and improve the quality of dataset submissions to the Secretariat. The use of these forms for submitting fisheries statistics to the IOTC became mandatory as of 2025.
The forms are available as plain Microsoft Excel™ spreadsheets, allowing reporting officers to input data either manually or programmatically using automated scripts.
You can download all form templates for submitting the data for the statistical year 2024 here. We welcome your feedback on these forms and encourage you to direct any questions to the IOTC Secretariat via email at IOTC-Statistics@fao.org.
For the submission of data on species presence in the catch.
For the submission of data on interactions of longline and surface fisheries with endangered, threatened, and protected (ETP) species.
For the submission of data on the total amount of fish caught and retained.
For the submission of data on the amount of discards.
For the submission of data on geo-referenced catches and efforts.
The unified form allows reporting data for multiple fisheries simultaneously:
A version of the form allows reporting updated data for a single fishery:
For the submission of data on geo-referenced size frequencies.
The unified form allows reporting data for multiple fisheries and species simultaneously:
A version of the form allows reporting updated data for a single fishery and species:
For the submission of data on activities related to anchored fish aggregating devices.
The unified form allows reporting data for multiple fisheries simultaneously:
A version of the form allows reporting updated data for a single fishery:
For the submission of data on interactions related to drifting floating objects.
The unified form addresses the shortcomings of the previous 3FA form and allows reporting data for multiple vessels simultaneously:
A version of the form allows reporting updated data for a single vessel:
For the submission of data on daily buoy positions.
For the submission of data on prices of fish products for tuna and tuna-like species under IOTC mandate. Specifications for a new IOTC Form for fish prices and other socio-economic indicators are expected to be defined through the work conducted by the Working Party on Socio-Economics.
The IOTC Regional Observer Scheme (ROS) was established to collect verified catch and scientific data on tuna and tuna-like species within the IOTC area. Its implementation, which began on 1 July 2010, is carried out entirely at the national level by IOTC Contracting Parties and Cooperating Non-Contracting Parties (CPCs). Information on the ROS, including programme standards and observer training materials, is available on the ROS page of the IOTC website.
The ROS data reporting forms were revised during the 20th Session of the Working Party on Data Collection and Statistics (WPDCS20), held in November 2024, and were subsequently endorsed by the Scientific Committee at its 27th Session (SC27). The forms are provided as XLSX spreadsheets and contain multiple sheets corresponding to different hierarchical levels of data to be reported. They are available in four distinct gear group versions—gillnets, longlines, pole-and-line, and purse seines — corresponding to the main gears used in fisheries subject to the ROS data requirements, i.e., those involving vessels larger than 24 metres in length overall, or vessels smaller than 24 metres operating in Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction (ABNJ).