Medidas de Gestao das Pescarias Marinhas e Aquicultura 2019 The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture 2018 | Page 112

PART 2 FAO FISHERIES AND AQUACULTURE IN ACTION
Monitoring System (FIRMS) (FAO, 2018c) to
monitor global trends, constitute a nice solution
for capturing, structuring and disseminating
qualitative or empirical knowledge on fisher y
resources and fisheries.
global monitoring for stocks and traceabilit y
schemes for fisheries (see Box 22, page 150 in
Part 3); and automatic identification system (AIS)
data ser vices (discussed under “Disruptive
technologies” in Part 4), which FAO is testing in
the endeavour to improve estimates of
geographically distributed fishing activities, to be
published in an atlas of fishing footprint and
effort – a compilation of AIS-based maps.
Through the above activities, during the decade
2008 –2018 FAO has supported no fewer than 50
countries in building their capacit y in fisheries
data collection, curation and processing.
It is necessar y to stimulate all aspects of the data
and statistics supply chain (policy-making,
international standards and procedures, technical
and operational support) across national data
collection, regional data sharing and global
collation and dissemination, in order to facilitate
and improve global assessments and monitoring.
At all levels, collaboration and partnerships with
Member Countries and other organizations,
including intergovernmental and non-
governmental organizations, academia and civil
societ y, are crucial to improve fisher y and
aquaculture databases, information and
knowledge and to assist in their interpretation
and use.
R FBs have a key role in capacit y building and
strengthening of regional and global scientific
knowledge. The assessment of migrator y species
and stocks straddling EEZs and the high seas and
related management decisions rely on data
collated among all concerned fisheries. It is
important to ensure, through regional
cooperation, that all data are collected in a
harmonized manner and that they can be
interpreted coherently. The data must also
address the range of fisheries from artisanal to
industrial scale, which requires different
approaches to data collection. FAO is engaged in
strengthening such data frameworks in a number
of RFBs, 16 for example through activation of data
and statistics working groups, the development of
a regional data collection framework covering
aspects such as minimum data requirements and
statistical standards, and the implementation of
regional databases to support stock assessment
and fisheries management needs in a range of
data-limited situations.
Assessing and monitoring stock status
Assessment and monitoring of stock status is a key
example demonstrating the need for and use of
fishery data. Stock status is one of the critical
parameters used in the implementation of
management plans to assess the sustainability of
fisheries and fishery resources in relation to
reference points. Monitoring stock status over time
can provide valuable information on resource
productivity and fishery sustainability and enables
a systematic review of the efficiency and
effectiveness of fishery policy and regulatory
measures. The percentage of world fish stocks
fished within biologically sustainable levels is thus
one of the indicators (14.4.1) for measuring progress
towards SDG 14, specifically target 14.4 (on
regulation of harvesting and ending overfishing,
IUU fishing and destructive fishing practices).
At the global level, FAO supports these regional
and national processes through the global data
framework for blue growth (FAO, 2016c, pp. 108 –
113). In particular, FIRMS, iMarine (2018) and
Global Fishing Watch (2018) are three key
partnership initiatives that FAO is developing
into a global cloud-based collaboration platform
to support fisher y resource monitoring. Online
tools provided by FAO include a regional
database for intercountr y data sharing and
collaborative analysis; hands-on interactive
training on basic assessment methods (Coro et
al., 2016); publishing of globally unique
identifiers for stocks and fisheries to facilitate
FAO develops stock assessment methods and
provides capacit y building and technical support
to Members in their initiatives to assess and
monitor stock status. FAO has been assessing and
monitoring world marine fisher y resources since
1973 (FAO, 2011a). FAO’s global assessment
16  e.g. COREP, FCWC, General Fisheries Commission for the
Mediterranean (GFCM), ICCAT, Indian Ocean Tuna Commission
(IOTC), RECOFI, WECAFC, SWIOFC.
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