EXPANSION OF THE EXISTING DATA COLLECTION SYSTEMS TO CAPTURE, STORE AND MANAGE SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC DATA FROM THE FISHERIES SECTOR

77. A presentation on the report "Expansion of Existing Data Collection Systems to Capture, Store and Manage Social and Economic Data from the Fisheries Sector", was made by Mr R. Banks, SCALES Inc., with the focus being on the collection of economic data to show the importance of fisheries within the different economies.

78. Following the presentation, the Consultant and participants reviewed an Excel model which had been designed to cater for a simplistic derivation of data focusing on fishing segments, high and low seasons, catches in these seasons, variable costs, the wage remuneration system, and the derivation of fixed and depreciated costs. Based on the review, a number of observations were made and errors identified. These included:

• The need to indicate vessel-identification number to ensure consistency in approach to sampling for the high and low season.

• The need for more species to be listed (expanding from the current 3 to 6).

• The need to introduce imperial measures (lbs, gals). These are in any event interchangeable without impacting on the model's calculations.

• The need to record landing charges as related to the weight of fish as opposed to the value. In some cases value may still prevail and as such the formula can be altered.

• The need to clarify the issue of wage shares leading to the calculation of crew and skipper earnings.

• For transport to relate to the weight of fish as opposed to value, and only to be recorded as a cost item as and when the fisher was directly responsible for transporting the catch to the market / other sales outlet.

• The need to enter into "life expectancy" of vessel assets irrespective of whether the asset existed or not.

79. Participants recommended that the Report and Excel Model be amended and circulated by CFU to the respective countries.

80. Based on a decision to amend the Agenda from one of countries which is preparing national data collections plans for social and economic data to address the issues identified under this section/component, the participants were divided into the Working Groups as follows:

• Trap fisheries
• Trawl fisheries for penaeid shrimp and seabob, and Chinese seines
• Netting and lining

81. The tasks required of them were:

• Clarification of the segments required for the economic analysis within the CARIFORUM/ CARICOM network.

• Sample sizes required.

• The strengths and weaknesses of the approach to economic data collection.

• The need for seasonal differentiation.

• Whether the existing data collectors were suitable for the tasks required.

• Whether there was a need to extend data collection to include the onshore processing sector.

• Proposed plan of action.

82. The summarized outputs from the Groups were as follows:

(i) Identification of the required segments: Table 1 identifies the working groups' perceptions on fishing segments. This table would be added to the Final Report.

(ii) Sample sizes required: The sample sizes recommended by the working groups were ten percent as and when numbers within the sample exceed 100 and 10 percent as and when vessel numbers were less than 100. If staff resource deployment was an issue in countries where there was shortage of staff, or where the number of segments were too many to cover in any one year, it was suggested that sample sizes could be reduced for some segments for a limited period, alternating the data collection from one segment to the next in each year. Data would still be collected for each segment but from a smaller sample (but from the same group of vessels previously selected). The important issue is to ensure consistency in targeting specific segments by each island at the same time. This would allow data comparisons between countries to be made.

(iii) Strengths and weaknesses of the approach: The views were that economic data would complement the existing data collected but staffing and the need for training data collectors were principal constraints.

(iv) Fishing seasons: In most, but not all fisheries, there were changing catches (species and quantities) between seasons. As such, data recording for both seasons (high and low) was required.

(v) Capacity of data collectors: Training was required of existing data collectors. In some cases, this would require the hiring of additional personnel.

(vi) Extension of the survey: It was acknowledged that, where possible, data collection should include an assessment of the economic value of the onshore sector.

(vii) Proposed plan of action: To design an action plan that focuses on coordinated data collection initiatives, which use the model in the following ways:

• preparation of economic outputs from the perspective of illustrating the importance of fisheries in national terms;

• preparation of economic data which can be used as indicators of the relative importance of each fishery within a country, and to compare the same fisheries between countries;

• preparation of a socio-economic database;

• output indicators to measure the effects of policies;

• a database to use in order to measure the impact of natural and man made interactions, management restraints and disasters; and

• the use of data for bio-economic modelling.

Table 1. Summary of different segments identified in the CARICOM countries