Current Reference Data Domains

The IOTC Reference Data Catalogue is organised into five functional domains, each covering a specific group of reference data used to support the collection, management and reporting of fisheries and biological information.

Administrative and Geospatial Domains

Reference data covering countries and reporting entities, fishing fleets, IOTC Contracting Parties and Cooperating Non-Contracting Parties (CPCs), and geospatial information relevant to the IOTC area of competence.

Fisheries and Fishing Technologies Domains

Reference data describing fisheries, fishing gears and configurations, vessel characteristics and technologies, fishing activities, fish aggregating objects, and bycatch mitigation measures and devices.

Biology and Morphometrics Domains

Reference data covering species identification and classification, tagging, biological sampling and morphometric measurements.

Social and Economic Domains

Reference data supporting the collection and interpretation of socio-economic information, including currencies, destination markets, pricing locations and fishery product types. This domain will be further developed in support of the IOTC Working Party on Socio-Economics.

Data and Metadata Domains

Reference data describing statistical data elements, reporting conventions, data sources, processing methods and coverage, supporting the consistent interpretation and management of IOTC datasets.

Legacy and External Reference Domains

Legacy and External References

Historical IOTC code lists and reference classifications maintained by external organisations, including FAO, the United Nations and IUCN. These references are retained to support compatibility with historical datasets and interoperability with external data systems.