Workshop on Promoting Decision Support System (DSS) Using Digital Data to Support Small Pelagic Fisheries Management in the APEC Region - Summary Report

Marine small pelagic fisheries play a vital role in supporting APEC developing economies by creating jobs, sustaining coastal livelihoods, and contributing to nutrition and food security. However, stock declines—driven by overfishing and climate change—highlight the need for stronger management measures. Although electronic fishing logbooks generate extensive data, these are rarely used for policymaking and mainly serve statistical reporting.

This project aims to develop a decision support system (DSS) that uses fisheries-dependent data collected directly from commercial activities, including fishing effort, catch volume, species composition, and basic biological information. Data sources include logbooks, observers, monitoring systems, interviews, and vessel surveys. Improving the use of digital fisheries data will help clarify stock status, reduce uncertainty, and strengthen responses to economic and food-security risks. By enhancing data quality and analytical capacity, the project supports efforts to combat IUU fishing, improve traceability, and inform sustainable small pelagic fisheries management across the APEC region.