The project initiated information collection of highly migratory species in Southeast Asian Waters  since 2008 with specific objectives to review and evaluate status of tuna fisheries/productions in the Southeast Asian waters as well as to develop the regional tuna database based on information collection from selected tuna landing sites and from national tuna statistic. Development of tuna data logbook or documentation system to support the proper data and information collection will be a part of activity. Through the establishment of a working group for information collection on tuna fisheries, there are currently participating countries, namely Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam (IPTV-Countries).

At the 1^st Working Group Meeting, the existing information of tuna productions at national level and ways to improve tuna data collection were discussed. It was found that level of national development of the participating countries for information collection is significantly different. Regarding this the 2009 annual plans and implementing activities were identified for each country at this meeting. Tuna landing sites and the enumerators at each countries were also identified before starting the tuna data collection in early of 2009.

During the 2^nd Working Party Meeting, 10 years tuna production from 1997-2007 based on fisheries statistic of all relevant countries were reported. Another progress was the outcome of data collection at selected landing sites in each IPTV country based on 6-8 months implementation. In addition, it was concluded that one-year-cycle of information collection on tuna landing production at the selected landing sites should be completed under the project’s support together with the support from their respective countries. To achieve this goal, the project plan and activities from late 2009 till early of 2010 was finalized as well as the future activities for IPTV countries including the developing of fishing logbook or catch documentation system to support proper tuna data collection.

          1. Evaluate status of tuna capture fisheries in the Southeast Asian waters;

          2. Evaluate tuna and neritic tuna species caught in the EEZ of the Southeast Asian waters;

          3. Establish data/information collection framework for clarification of the tuna fishing ground in the Southeast Asian waters; and

          4. Establish a database system for tuna fisheries in the Southeast Asian region.
          

The project will be implemented through the following activities and sub-activities:

Activity 1: Consultation/working party meeting

In 2011, the 4^th working party meeting will be organized in order to obtain the progress of the pilot program with the participating countries on the use of tuna fishing logbook for recording tuna catch at sea. The meeting will also discuss on further promotion on the use of tuna fishing logbook in the Southeast Asian region with the aim to produce better information and data, which could support the national initiatives related to tuna fisheries management. As the implementation period of the project is planned to be ended by 2012, it is therefore envisaged that future plan for continuation of the project to be implemented from 2013 and onward will be discussed/drafted.

Activity 2: Development of the regional database for tuna

Based on the data inputs from the working party members, development of the tuna regional database will be continued. It is envisaged that information collection at tuna landing sites for the working party non-member (s) will also be initiated as the additional input to the current database development. As the regional database is a long-term process, and the project should be not completely implemented by the end of 2012. The project coordinator will therefore coordinate with other regional program of activities in order to keep these initiatives for the benefits of SEAFDEC member countries.

Activity 3: Data collection and analysis

Analysis of information and data collected by the working party members as well as the result from the pilot study on the use of tuna fishing logbook (for the fishing boats catching in EEZ) will be analyzed. National workshop on the use of tuna fishing logbook will be organized at 2 selected countries including Indonesia and Vietnam (considering as less-developed member countries). It is planned that topics for the support from the project to improve tuna information collection will be decided and discussed during the 4^th meeting of the working party. Furthermore, evaluation of the project implementation during the 5-year period will be conducted.

No	Title	Year	Download
1	Report on the 3rd Working Group of Highly Migratory Species Information Collection Meeting, 24-25 May 2010, Phuket, Thailand	2010	563 KB.
2	Annual Report on Information Collection of Highly Migratory Species in Southeast Asian Waters	2009	321 KB.
3	Annual Report on Information Collection of Highly Migratory Species in Southeast Asian Waters	2008	105 KB.
4	Poster Tuna Identification	2008	1 MB.