The CCSBT collects a variety of data types from its Members and Cooperating Non-Members, including total catch, catch and effort data, and catch at size data. Catch, size and trade information is also collected through the Commission's Catch Documentation Scheme, Japanese import statistics, and other monitoring programs.
Annual catches provided on this page are reported on a calendar year basis. CCSBT Members use quota years (not calendar years) for managing catching limits, but quota years differ between Members, so calendar years are used to provide catches on a common timescale.
Relevant subsets and summaries of these data are provided below. All figures are subject to change as improved data or estimates become available. In particular, reviews of SBT data in 2006 indicated that southern bluefin tuna catches may have been substantially under-reported over the previous 10-20 years and the data presented here do not include estimates for this unreported catch. Also, data for the last reported year of catch (2023) are preliminary and are subject to revision. Any latitudes and longitudes presented in these summaries represent the north-western corner of the relevant grid, which is a 5*5 grid unless otherwise specified.
Other information on Members and Cooperating Non-Members fishing activities appears in the reports of the Extended Scientific Committee, Compliance Committee and Extended Commission.
Estimated Total Global Catch of Southern Bluefin Tuna
Estimates of the global SBT catch will be updated on an annual basis within two months of the CCSBT annual meeting in October of each year.
All data in this section are provided as whole weights in tonnes. Note: the catch data provided here do not include estimates of past unreported catches.
Annual catch by flag or gear from 1952 to 2023 inclusive
Catch by ocean, year and flag from 1965 to 2023 inclusive
The SBT catch in this dataset has been subdivided into three oceans (Indian, Pacific and Atlantic) according to ocean definitions defined by the CCSBT Secretariat. Due to the absence of requisite data, it has been assumed that all Indonesian catches, miscellaneous catches, pre-2000 Philippine SBT catches, and pre-1981 Taiwanese catches were from the Indian Ocean.
It should also be noted that the data for individual Flag States and fishing entities shown here may differ to data that those Flag States and fishing entities have provided separately to other organisations. This is in part due to the data manipulations conducted by the CCSBT in producing this dataset (a variety of data sources were used, requiring a range of correction and raising techniques) and in part due to differences in the data provided by individual Flag States and fishing entities to the CCSBT and to other organisations. In particular, the post 1994 SBT data provided by Japan to the CCSBT differs from the post 1994 SBT data that Japan provides to other regional fishery management organisations. The data that Japan provides to CCSBT takes advantage of a Real Time Monitoring Program for SBT to collect daily catch and effort reports from SBT targeting fishing vessels and this is considered to minimise the time lag in availability of the Japanese SBT log book data.
Catch by year, month, gear, ocean and 5 degree grid from 1965 to 2023 inclusive
The comments made regarding the above "catch by ocean, year and flag" data also apply to this more highly stratified data. In addition, all Indonesian, miscellaneous, and pre-2000 Philippine SBT catches have been assumed to have been taken by longlining. Information on the month, latitude and longitude of the catch are occasionally missing within these data. Finally, a small proportion of cells have weights that are less than the weight of a single fish. This is a consequence of some of the catch estimation procedures that were used.
Catch and Effort Data
Aggregated catch and effort data from CCSBT Members for the commercial longline and surface (purse seine, pole and line only) fisheries for SBT are provided below. It should be noted that the data for individual Flag States and fishing entities available here may differ to data that they provided to other organisations. For further details see the related comment in the sub section "Catch by ocean, year and flag from 1965 to ..." above.
It should also be noted that the catch and effort data provided here do not cover the full time-series of SBT fishing by each Flag State and fishing entity, nor do they contain the entire SBT catch for any year. In addition, prior to 1996, the SBT catch reported here for the Fishing Entity of Taiwan has been estimated from mixed bluefin tuna (species not reported separately) data. The reason for incomplete time series is that the catch and effort data is compiled from vessel logbooks or similar detailed records that may not have been collected throughout a nations fishing history. Similarly, in some years, there may not be complete coverage of a particular fleet by catch and effort data collection systems. For a more complete history of SBT catches or for a full coverage of the catch, please refer to the previous section on the "Total Global Catch of Southern Bluefin Tuna".
It should be further noted that in cases where information on the number of vessels has been provided to the Secretariat, the subsets provided here are made up of observations with a minimum of three vessels per strata. This is due to the CCSBT confidentiality rules.
For some CCSBT Members, the data provided here are not restricted to fishing that targeted SBT. Instead, the data represents all longline, purse seine and pole & line fishing in which catches of SBT were feasible. This includes fishing that targeted SBT, fishing that targeted other tuna or tuna like species, and/or fishing conducted in strata (year/month/area) where SBT were also taken. As a consequence, there are many fishing records with no SBT catch. Note: the extent to which fishing effort associated with past unreported catches has been reported is currently unknown. This causes difficulties for a meaningful interpretation of catch per unit effort trends from these data.
Longline Fishery (to December 2023)
The longline catch and effort data available here for download contains year, month, country code, target species (New Zealand, South Korean and South African catches only), CCSBT statistical area, latitude and longitude (by 5° square where available), number of hooks and number of SBT retained. Within this dataset, there are occasional missing data (empty cells) for location, number of hooks and number of SBT retained.
Surface Fishery (to December 2023)
The surface fishery catch and effort data available here for download contains year, month, country code, gear code, CCSBT statistical area, latitude and longitude (by 1° square where available), number of search hours, and weight of SBT retained. Within this dataset, there are occasional missing data (empty cells) for location and number of search hours. It should also be noted that the weight of SBT retained in these data are usually only approximate visual estimates of the weights.
Catch at Size Data
SBT size frequency data for commercial fishing operations, raised to the total reported SBT catch of the relevant flag state or fishing entity, are available below. The data contains: year, month, country code, gear code, CCSBT statistical area, other area (Australian catches only), latitude and longitude, length class (upper end of class in cm), length class precision (in cm) and the adjusted (raised) frequency. At present, raised size frequency data at this resolution are only available for Australia (1952 to 2023 - but prior to 2002 this is not separated by gear type and does not include latitude and longitude), Japan (1965 to 2023), New Zealand (1989 to 2023 - but without spatial and temporal stratification in 1989) and the Fishing Entity of Taiwan (2002 to 2023). Where available, the latitude and longitude is presented as 5° squares for longlining and unclassified gear types, and 1° squares for other gear types.
- Text (tab delimited) format (4.6MB)
Ecologically Related Species (ERS) Data
Aggregated effort and scientific observer data (as specified in the ERSWG Data Exchange) are available by year, gear, CCSBT Statistical Area, and species group. These data include numbers of observed interactions of ecologically related species encountered in the SBT fisheries. Note that the figures are not estimates of total interactions by species group. Data are aggregated over Flag and comprises shots from all Members (except Indonesia) where SBT was targeted or caught.
Note: Korea deployed no scientific observers in 2020 or 2021 so there are no ERS capture data for Korea for those years. Japan deployed no scientific observers in 2021 or 2022 so there are no ERS capture data for Japan for those years.
Catch Documentation Scheme (CDS) Data
The CCSBT Catch Documentation Scheme replaces the CCSBT Trade Information Scheme and has been operational since 1 January 2010. This scheme records all landings of domestic product, transhipments, exports, imports and re-exports of southern bluefin tuna under the jurisdiction of a Member, Cooperating Non-Member, or Other State/Fishing Entity Cooperating with the CDS.
CDS Harvest Report (January 2010 to December 2023 inclusive)
Provides information on the net weight of southern bluefin tuna (SBT) catches by CCSBT Members and Cooperating Non-Members. The report contains: Harvest year, Flag State/ Fishing Entity, Product Destination (including landings of domestic product), Gear Code, Net weight (kg), and Estimated whole weight (kg) (calculated by applying conversion factors to the net weight).
Trade Information Scheme (TIS) Data
The CCSBT Trade Information Scheme ended on 31 December 2009, and was superseded by the CCSBT Catch Documentation Scheme. The reports below contain all available TIS information and will not be updated further.
Subsets of the Annex 2 and Annex 2a reports of the TIS are available for download below.
Subset of Annex 2 Report (January 2001 to December 2009 inclusive)
Provides information on the net weight of southern bluefin tuna (SBT) imports by CCSBT Members and Cooperating Non-Members. The report contains: export period (6 month groups), import country/fishing entity, flag state/fishing entity, harvest year (for non-farmed SBT), gear code and net weight.
Subset of Annex 2a Report (July 2002 to December 2009 inclusive)
Provides information on both imports and exports of southern bluefin tuna by CCSBT Members and Cooperating Non-Members. This report also provides a "best" net weight estimate of SBT trade through a reconciliation of import and export TIS information. The report contains: export period (6 month groups), import country/fishing entity, flag state/fishing entity, net weight from imported TIS documents, net weight from the exporter's TIS records, and the overall estimated net weight from reconciling the import and export TIS records.
