WCPFC Area Data Submission Formats

Introduction

This repository supports ongoing efforts to standardize fisheries data submissions across the WCPFC convention area, and provides guidelines around the standardized data submission templates adopted by the 22nd Regular Session of the WCPFC. These templates address the structural and formatting challenges arising from non-standardized datasets.

The data submission templates cover the five key SciData reporting requirements. Links are provided below to access the templates and standards for each data type:

  1. Annual Catch Estimates (ACE): national-level summaries of total catch, stratified by species, gear, and flag

  2. Number of vessels active: number of active vessels, by gear and size category

  3. Aggregate catch and effort data: spatially and temporally aggregated catch and effort (e.g., 5°x5° by month) to complement operational submissions

  4. Operational data (logbooks): fishing event level catch and effort records, with standardized field names, formats, and structures

  5. Size composition 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.