1. The Meeting of the APFIC Ad hoc Working Group of Experts in Capture Fishery Data Collection was convened in Bangkok, Thailand, from 7 to 9 September 1999. Its main task was to discuss implementation of the Guidelines for the Routine Collection of Capture Fishery Data (Appendix A). The Guidelines were prepared during the FAO/DANIDA Expert Consultation in Bangkok, Thailand, in May 1998 following a recommendation made during the First Session of the APFIC Joint Working Party on Fisheries Statistics and Economics in August 1997. The Meeting was chaired by Mr Romeo Recide, in his capacity as Chairman of the Joint Working Party and for the inter-sessional period 1997-1999.
2. The Meeting, attended by experts in fishery data collection from the APFIC Member Countries (Appendix B), was specifically tasked to provide advice on priorities for implementation by Member Countries in order to improve the quality of capture fishery statistics; consider how sample survey data collection methodologies can be utilized to optimize data collection with limited financial and human resources; prepare the necessary follow-up action of the Ad hoc Working Group to promote common approaches and sustainable data collection systems in the region; and advise APFIC on the status and needs for further strengthening of fishery statistical programmes in the region.
3. In his opening remarks, the APFIC Secretary and Senior Fishery Officer of the FAO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific (FAO/RAP), Dr Veravat Hongskul, challenged the experts to take active part in providing guidance for the proper collection of capture fishery data because such collection has not improved very much during the last 20 years. He asked the experts to review the Guidelines as means of designing data collection programmes. He mentioned that during the APFIC Meeting in Beijing, China in 1998, it was agreed that a meeting of an Ad hoc Working Group of Experts in Capture Fishery Data Collection be convened to make recommendations which will be submitted to the APFIC Executive Committee and then to the Commission for consideration at its 27th Session in November 2000.
4. The Technical Secretary of the Ad hoc Working Group and Chief of the Fishery Information, Data and Statistics of FAO, Dr Richard Grainger, informed that the Guidelines aimed to facilitate the identification of data needs for fishery policy-making and management; provided a new framework and approach to establishing sustainable statistical data collection; and provided a system for monitoring the effectiveness of data collection programme. He emphasized that the Meeting was a follow-up to the recommendations made during the First Session of the Joint Working Party in 1997 when the status of fishery statistics in the region was reviewed.
5. The Chairman asked the experts to respond to the challenge for better statistical data and for them to strive to make full use of the Guidelines for implementation in the region.
