Aggregated Purse Seine Data Format

Aggregate Catch and Effort data for purse seine fisheries are to be submitted for data aggregated to the level of: year, month, flag, fleet, gear, and 1x1 degree cell.
Coordinates must represent the southwest corner of each spatial cell and be reported in whole degrees.

Aggregate data represent raised logbook catches and should reflect the total annual catch and effort within the WCPFC Convention Area for a given fleet.

The purse seine format includes information on both fishing activities and associated school types, providing a clear view of fishing behavior and catch composition by activity type.

The effort information includes:

• number of fishing days by activity and school type
• number of sets (for fishing set activities)
• activity type (e.g., fishing set, searching, transiting)
• school type (e.g., free school, drifting FAD, anchored FAD, etc.)

The catch information includes:

• catch in weight (mt) for all species
• species codes using FAO 3-letter Species Codes

Field formatting details

• Year must be reported as YYYY.
• Month must be reported as mm (01 to 12).
• Latitude and longitude must be reported in whole degrees at a 1°x1° resolution, with coordinates representing the southwest corner of the cell.
  • The valid range is -180 to 179 for longitude and -90 to 89 for latitude.
• Activity codes must follow the Activity Reference Table.
• School type codes must follow the School Type Reference Table.
• Species code must use FAO 3-letter Species Codes.
  • e.g., SKJ – Skipjack Tuna, YFT – Yellowfin Tuna, BET – Bigeye Tuna.
• Catches must be reported in metric tonnes (mt) with a maximum of 3 decimal places.
• Number of sets must be a whole value.

Notes:

• Coordinates correspond to the southwest corner of the 1°x1° cell.
• Include one record per combination of year, month, flag, fleet, activity, school type, and cell.
• Ensure all catch species correspond to key species listed in the Sci-Data guidelines.
• Effort and catch data should represent total annual values aggregated across all operational activities.

Table documents format

Aggregated data are structured in two interconnected levels: Effort and Catch. In this format, separate tables are used for each data level to maintain clarity and reduce redundancy. Each table is connected using a unique identifier, which is set at Effort level: effort_id and referenced at Catch level. These identifiers must be numeric or alphanumeric and unique within the set of files.

👉 Data providers can also download ready-to-use CSV data templates for each level (catch and effort).

CSV Data Templates

• Aggregated Catch Template
• Aggregated Effort Data Template
• Aggregated Vessels Template

Data format details (with examples)

Rows in the Effort table represent aggregated purse seine fishing activities, identified by year, month, flag, fleet, latitude, and longitude at a 1°x1° resolution.
Each record contains the total number of fishing days and sets for each combination of activity type and school type.
Species-specific catches are reported separately using FAO 3-letter species codes and measured in metric tonnes (mt).

Example document at effort level

Field descriptions at effort level

Notes:

• Latitude and longitude define the southwest corner of each 1°x1° grid cell.
• One record per combination of year, month, flag, fleet, activity type id, school type id, and grid cell.
• Catches are reported in a separate table using FAO 3-letter species codes and expressed in metric tonnes (mt).
• Activity type and school type ids must conform to the reference tables linked above.
• Ensure data exclude operational-level detail (these represent aggregated summaries).

Example document at catch level

Field descriptions at catch level

Notes:

• Each record in the Catch table corresponds to a single species entry linked to an Effort record via effort_id.
• Both number of fish (sp_n) and catch weight (sp_mt) can be reported if available.
• At least one of these two fields (sp_n or sp_mt) must be present.
• The is_discarded field identifies whether the species was retained (0) or discarded (1).
• Species codes must use the FAO 3-letter Species Codes.
• Ensure all catches are aggregated summaries consistent with the Effort table records.

Example document at vessel level

Field descriptions at vessel level

Notes:

• The Vessel table provides contextual information on fishing capacity and fleet distribution.
• One record per combination of year, month, flag, fleet, and grid cell.
• Coordinates refer to the southwest corner of the 1°x1° cell.
• This dataset complements Effort and Catch tables to enhance interpretation of fishing activity and effort distribution.
• Values represent active vessels, not total registered vessels.

References

Reference Table 1: Activity Type identifiers

Reference Table 2: School Type identifiers

Reference Table 3: List of Fleets