Public Domain Aggregated Catch/Effort Data

The WCPFC have compiled a public domain version of aggregated catch and effort data using operational, aggregate and annual catch estimates data provided by Commission Members (CCMs) and Cooperating Non-members (CNMs). The data provided herein have been prepared for dissemination in accordance with the current “Rules and Procedures for the Protection, Access to, and Dissemination of Data Compiled by the Commission” or (“RAP”).

Paragraph 9 of the Rules and Procedures indicates that "Catch and Effort data in the public domain shall be made up of observations from a minimum of three vessels". However, most of the historical aggregate data for gears other than the purse seine fishery do not indicate how many vessels were active in each cell of data, which prevents applying the three-vessel rule filter. For these data, the individual cells where "effort" is less than or equal to the maximum value estimated to represent the activities of two vessels have been removed from the public domain data. Statistics showing how much data have been removed according to this RAP requirement are provided in the documentation for the longline and purse seine public domain data.

In regards to the longline shark species data, please note that these data are highly uncertain and the historic trends are not representative of actual catch, but more related to improvements in reporting in recent years in line with WCPFC reporting obligations.

Please note that viable historic time series of aggregate catch/effort data do not exist for the domestic fisheries of Indonesia, Philippines, and Vietnam, and so an estimate of aggregate catch data has been generated by disaggregating the respective annual catch estimates for these fisheries for inclusion in these public domain data sets..

To access the WCPFC public domain catch and effort data for driftnet, longline, pole-and-line and purse seine, please REGISTER below and the page to download the data will be provided. Each public domain zip file contains two files: (1) a CSV file containing the data; (2) a PDF file containing the field names/formats and the coverage with respect to the data file.

Aggregated data, grouped by 5°x5° latitude/longitude grids, YEAR and MONTH.

  • DRIFTNET fishery. Data cover 1983 to 1990 and the Pacific Ocean south of the equator. This fishery has been inactive since 1991.
  • LONGLINE fishery. Data cover 1950 to 2022 for the WCPFC Convention Area.
  • PURSE SEINE fishery. Data cover 1950 to 2023 for the WCPFC Convention Area.
  • POLE-AND-LINE fishery. Data cover 1950 to 2023 for the WCPFC Convention Area.

Aggregated data, grouped by 5°x5° latitude/longitude grids, FLAG, YEAR and QUARTER.

  • LONGLINE fishery. Data cover 1950 to 2022 for the WCPFC Convention Area.
  • PURSE SEINE fishery. Data cover 1950 to 2023 for the WCPFC Convention Area.

Aggregated data, grouped by 5°x5° latitude/longitude grids, FLAG and YEAR.

  • LONGLINE fishery. Data cover 1950 to 2022 for the WCPFC Convention Area.
  • PURSE SEINE fishery. Data cover 1950 to 2023 for the WCPFC Convention Area.

Aggregated data, grouped by 5°x5° latitude/longitude grids, FLAG,  YEAR and MONTH. 

  • LONGLINE fishery. Data cover 1950 to 2022 for the WCPFC Convention Area.

Aggregated data, grouped by 1°x1° latitude/longitude grids, YEAR and MONTH. 

  • PURSE SEINE fishery. Data cover 1950 to 2023 for the WCPFC Convention Area.

Aggregated data, grouped by 1°x1° latitude/longitude grids, FLAG, YEAR and QUARTER. 

  • PURSE SEINE fishery. Data cover 1950 to 2023 for the WCPFC Convention Area.
  • POLE AND LINE fishery. Data cover 1950 to 2023 for the WCPFC Convention Area.

These data files were last updated on the 31st October 2024.

Please provide the following contact information before accessing to the download page:

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