Fishery Statistic in Southeast Asia

     In Southeast Asia, the importance of fishery statistics as tool that provides the basic foundation crucial for  the formulation of national fisheries policies and national management frameworks and actions as well as basis  for understanding the status and condition of the fisheries resources, has been widely accepted. However, as the  basic structure to facilitate the development planning and management of fisheries, the fisheries statistical items  and data set collected by countries could vary based on the priority needs and objectives of the respective  countries.
           The compilation of fishery statistics in Southeast Asia has been regularly pursued by SEAFDEC from 1978  to 2007 in the form of the “Fishery Statistical Bulletin for the South China Sea Area”. Recently, SEAFDEC  has  exerted efforts to initiate the revision of the statistical framework so that this could better serve as basic  requirement (minimum requirement) for compiling fisheries statistics that can be achieved by the countries in the  region. The escalating situation in fisheries statistics in the region and the new geo-political set-up of the ASEAN,  make it also necessary to revise the existing framework of the regional fishery statistics and the usage of the  Bulletin in the Southeast Asian region. Thus starting in 2008, SEAFDEC has been producing the “Fishery  Statistical Bulletin of Southeast Asia”, reflecting the harmonized fisheries statistical framework and system  of the  Southeast Asian region.