Improving Information and Statistics Collection for Management of Fisheries

The project “Enhancing the Compilation and Utilization of Fishery Statistics and Information for Sustainable Development and Management of Fisheries in Southeast Asian Region” has been carried out by TD in collaboration with MFRDMD and SEAFDEC Secretariat since 2013 to compile quality fisheries data and information in support of policy planning and management of fisheries. This project comprises three sub-projects, namely: 1) facilitating fisheries activity information gathering through the introduction of community-based management; 2) improvement of data collection of commercially exploited aquatic and threatened species; and 3) harmonization of fishery statistics in the Southeast Asian region. While the first sub-project focuses on the collection of information on small-scale inland and coastal fisheries through community-based management, the second specifically intends to improve data collection of commercially exploited aquatic and threatened species, and the third emphasizes on coordination and support for statistics reporting systems of Member Countries to be able to generate timely regional fishery statistics.

For the sub-project “Facilitating fisheries activity information gathering through the introduction of community-based management,” the problems and constraints faced by countries in collecting fisheries data from coastal small-scale and inland fisheries at the national level were first reviewed. Then, training to facilitate fisheries information gathering through the introduction of community-based resources management/co-management was organized. In 2017, TD promoted the innovative fisheries management approaches including community-based resources management/co-management at project sites in Cambodia, Lao PDR, and Thailand.

For Cambodia, Chong Khneas Commune in Siem Reap was selected as a project site to promote and implement “Co-management and Community-based Fisheries Management.”

To start off the activity, TD conducted a baseline survey in collaboration with the Fisheries Administration (FiA) on 20-25 March 2017 by interviewing fishers in Angkaul Village, Kep Province to gather information on the community situation and the main issues in

baseline survey, TD convened the meeting “Improvement Conservation Zone and Promote Eco-tourism” in Chong Khneas Commune, Siem Reap on 15-20 May 2017. Training on fiber glass boat construction was also organized for twenty (20) participants from Chong Khneas Commune with the aim of providing knowledge on fiber glass boat construction to support the study “Monitoring in Narrow Water Conservation Zone” through “Support Eco-tourism Activity.”

The project site in Lao PDR was in Khammouane Province, and to follow-up on the baseline survey conducted at the end of 2016, TD started the activities toward establishment of the Fisheries Management Committee (FMC) and promotion of co-management/community- based fisheries management (CBFM) by arranging an event to disseminate the concept of co-management and CBFM to the local people at the project site on 27-31 March 2017. Subsequently, the meeting to establish FMC was convened on 22-26 May 2017 in collaboration with the Department of Livestock and Fisheries (DLF) of Lao PDR. As a follow up, monitoring of the established FMC and survey of fish market were also carried out during 2-6 October 2017, together with the declaration of a fisheries conservation area with rules and regulations, established for and by local people and stakeholders in the pilot site.

Meeting with the Kep Provincial Fisheries

Cantonment during the baseline survey Training on Fiber Glass Boat Construction to support eco-tourism activity

Monitoring of the established FMC and survey on fish markets in Khammouane Province, Lao PDR

In Thailand, the pilot site of the project was in Nam Oon Dam, Sakon Nakhon Province. In 2014, TD collaborated with the Department of Fisheries (DOF) of Thailand to implement a CBRM project in the project site located in northeast Thailand. Nam Oon Dam was established in 1981 with water volume of about 520 million m³, used to supply the water requirements of the agriculture sector of the Province. Nam Oon Dam was proposed by the DOF Thailand as the pilot site of the project because many outsiders who are not concerned about the need to conserve the fishery resources, fish in Nam Oon Dam. In addition, illegal fishing has been reported to occur in the Dam, where these illegal fishers use the mechanical giant lift net, a cone shaped stationary fishing gear submerged at a certain depth with the opening facing upwards. Moreover, the local government has deemed it necessary to define the conservation zone in Nam Oon Dam for the sustainability of the fishery resources in the Dam.

Based on the results of the baseline survey conducted in July 2014 to understand the condition of the communities as well as their existing problems, the sixteen communities around Nam Oon Dam engaged in fisheries as well as in agriculture (paddy field, rubber tree, cassava, among others), have been involved in the project. Results of the baseline survey indicated that the main fishing gears used in the Dam include gill net, hook and line, and fish trap, catching major freshwater fish species such as the Siamese mud carp, Indian river barb, and common silver barb, which are mostly intended for household consumption or sold in the local markets. After establishment of the inland fisheries management committee for Nam Oon Dam, the committee members were selected and trained to build their awareness on the importance of CBRM and the need to promote the conservation of fishery resources in Nam Oon Dam. A workshop for the inland fisheries management committee of Nam Oon Dam was then organized to define the fisheries management measures and enhance the committee’s knowledge on inland fisheries management and the fisheries law, regulations on fishing gears and methods, as well as develop the conservation area and closed season imposed during the fish spawning season from 16 April to 15 August.

The fisheries management measures developed by the committee were announced through signboards put up in the communities around Nam Oon Dam that contain the map of Nam Oon Dam, closed season period, the allowed date for fishing, prohibited fishing gears, conservation zone, and fishing gears allowed to be used in open and closed season.

Local meetings were regularly organized to explain the fisheries management measures that were displayed in the signboards that have been set up by the management committee with the involvement of the community members.

Results of the resource assessment and data collection initiated in March 2017 in four selected communities, namely: Ban Dong Khampho, Ban Kudtakap, Ban Klang, and Ban Nachuak which included the analyzed catch data indicating the current status of fishery resources in Nam Oon Dam, would be shared with the fishers for feedback and would be used as scientific reference for the development of the fisheries management measures.

Based on the agreement among the communities for habitat restoration and protection of fishery resources, the conservation zone in Nam Oon Dam was designated. Covering an area of about 1,028,800 m² and located between Ban Dong Khampho and Ban Nachuak, the

conservation zone would be marked using the 15 buoys provided by TD to serve as markers for the conservation zone as well as to indicate the border between the two communities.

A follow up activity on the promotion of Community-based Fisheries Management/Co- management in Nam Oon Dam, Sakon Nakhon Province was carried out through an on-site training organized on 20-24 February 2017, where TD supported the fishing community through the installation of buoys to serve as signs to demarcate the conservation zone at Ban Thaichareon Village. Monitoring of the status of the fishery resources in Nam Oon Reservoir was also conducted through the research study on stock assessment which started in March 2017 with the actual collection of data including contemporary catch data from the logbooks used by fisher volunteers. A follow up activity was organized during 26- 30 June 2017.

Installation of sign buoys to mark the conservation zone

Data collection for stock assessment study

With regards to the “improvement of data collection of the commercially exploited aquatic and threatened species,” activities were implemented by TD in collaboration with MFRDMD to support data collection on “sharks and rays” and develop stock assessment methods as well as management measures of the species based on the existing data on sharks and rays in Southeast Asian countries (See 4.4 on Research and Management of Sharks and Rays).

For the “harmonization of fishery statistics in the Southeast Asian region,” SEAFDEC Secretariat continued to coordinate with the Southeast Asian countries and relevant organizations to facilitate submission of national statistics for regional/international compilation. To facilitate harmonization of regional statistics with those of the international level, SEAFDEC took part in the “Coordinating Working Party on Fishery Statistics (CWP) Intersessional Meeting - Aquaculture and Fisheries Subject Group” on 19-21 June 2017 in Copenhagen, Denmark, where views on the

fishery statistics situation of the region were shared. Through this Meeting, SEAFDEC was updated on the development of new global standards, classifications and definitions used in compiling fishery statistics. With regards to production of the publication

“Southeast Asian State of Fisheries and Aquaculture (SEASOFIA),” the draft SEASOFIA which was tabled for discussion/

consideration at the SEAFDEC Program Committee at its 39^th Meeting in November 2016 was finalized; and the publication was published and disseminated in 2017.

In 2017, SEAFDEC also organized the “Regional Technical Consultation on Fishery Statistics and Information in Southeast Asia” on 15-18 August 2017 in Bangkok, Thailand, which came up with updated status and suggestions to improve the reporting of national statistics from AMSs for regional compilation. The Consultation also noted the requirements for improving the collection and reporting of the statistics, e.g. for migratory species and species under international concern, for regional compilation. Update on the development of global standards on fishery statistics, i.e. the International Standard Statistical Classification of Fishery Statistics Bulletin of Southeast Asia 2015

and the SEASOFIA 2017 issued in 2017

Fishing Gears (ISSCFG), International Standard Statistical Classification of Aquatic Animal and Plants (ISSCAAP), and the new standard questionnaires on aquaculture statistics were also discussed for incorporation in the region’s fishery statistics framework in the future.

THRUST 5. ADDRESSING INTERNATIONAL FISHERIES-RELATED ISSUES FROM