WCPFC Area Data Submission Formats
Introduction
This repository supports ongoing efforts to standardize fisheries data submissions across the WCPFC convention area. The work builds on a draft paper prepared for the WCPFC Scientific Committee (2025) that addresses the structural and formatting challenges arising from non-standardized datasets.
The focus is on five key domains of data critical for regional science and management. Access templates and standards for each data type using the links below:
Annual Catch Estimates (ACE): national-level summaries of total catch, stratified by species, gear, and flag.
Number of vessels active: static and dynamic vessel attributes, harmonized with the WCPFC Vessel Registry.
Aggregated data: spatially and temporally aggregated catch and effort (e.g., 5°x5° by month) to complement operational submissions.
Operational longline data (logbooks): trip and set level catch and effort records, with standardized field names, formats, and structures.
Size data – aggregated length and weight composition data representing catches by fishery, derived mainly from port sampling and observer sources, reported at fine spatial and temporal resolutions to support stock assessment analyses.
The proposed standards are designed for automated processing, ensuring data can be validated, exchanged, and integrated efficiently. By defining consistent structures, field names, encodings, and metadata, this initiative will not only improve interoperability and quality assurance, but also provide the foundation for a streamlined submission procedure to be introduced in the near future. This will reduce processing delays, minimize validation errors, and strengthen the reliability of stock assessments, compliance monitoring, and ecosystem analyses across the region.