tuna_data

RFMO Tuna Catch and Effort Data

Overview

This project develops a standardized pipeline to compile, clean, and restructure tuna catch and effort datasets from multiple Regional Fisheries Management Organizations (RFMOs).

RFMOs Included

• IATTC – Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission data
• ICCAT – International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (task 2 data)
• IOTC – Indian Ocean Tuna Commission data
• WCPFC – Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission data

Repository Structure

• data/:
  • data/raw: contains original datasets retrieved from RFMOs
  • data/processed: contains cleaned data from various RFMOs in a standardized format
    • processed/01_bound: contains bound RFMO data sets at various resolutions
  • data/output: contains harmonized RFMO datasets
• scripts/:
  • scripts/01_standardizing: contains scripts that clean RFMO data
  • scripts/02_processing:
    • 02_processing/01_bind_data: contains scripts that bind RFMO data and detect overlapping cells
    • 02_processing/02_harmonize_data: contains scripts that harmonize RFMO data
  • scripts/03_content:
• results/:
  • results/figures
  • results/img:
  • results/tab:

Defined variables in cleaned data

Variables	Description
rfmo	Related RFMO
flag	Flag code in ISO 3166-1 alpha-3 (excluding SUN)
lon	Longitude of fishing activity
lat	Latitude of the fishing activity
year	Year of record
month	Month of record
effort_set	Number of fishing sets
effort_day	Number of fishing days
catch_tot	Total catch (mt)
catch_skj	Catch of skipjack tuna (mt)
catch_alb	Catch of albacore tuna (mt)
catch_bet	Catch of bigeye tuna (mt)
catch_yft	Catch of yellowfin tuna (mt)

Harmonized datasets

File path under: data/output

| Gear | Spatial | Temporal | By flag | RFMOs Included | Dataset | |————-|———|———-|———|———————|—————————————–| | purse seine | 1°×1° | month | no | IATTC, ICCAT, WCPFC | allrfmo_month_1deg_purseseine.rds | | purse seine | 1°×1° | year | no | IATTC, ICCAT, WCPFC | allrfmo_year_1deg_purseseine.rds | | purse seine | 1°×1° | year | yes | IATTC, ICCAT, WCPFC | allrfmo_year_1deg_purseseine_flag.rds |

Cleaned catch and effort data sets by RFMO

IATTC

File path under: data/processed/iattc

| Gear | Spatial | Temporal | By flag | Dataset | |————-|———|———-|———|—————————————| | purse seine | 1°×1° | month | no | iattc_month_1deg_purseseine.rds | | purse seine | 1°×1° | year | no | iattc_year_1deg_purseseine.rds | | purse seine | 1°×1° | year | yes | iattc_year_1deg_purseseine_flag.rds |

ICCAT

File path under: data/processed/iccat

| Gear | Spatial | Temporal | By flag | Dataset | |————-|———|———-|———|—————————————| | purse seine | 1°×1° | month | no | iccat_month_1deg_purseseine.rds | | purse seine | 1°×1° | year | no | iccat_year_1deg_purseseine.rds | | purse seine | 1°×1° | year | yes | iccat_year_1deg_purseseine_flag.rds |

IOTC

File path under: data/processed/iotc

WCPFC

File path under: data/processed/wcpfc

| Gear | Spatial | Temporal | By flag | Dataset | |————-|———|———-|———|——————————————| | purse seine | 1°×1° | month | no | wcpfc_month_1deg_purseseine.rds | | purse seine | 5°×5° | month | no | wcpfc_month_5deg_purseseine.rds | | purse seine | 1°×1° | quarter | yes | wcpfc_quarter_1deg_purseseine_flag.rds | | purse seine | 5°×5° | quarter | no | wcpfc_quarter_5deg_purseseine.rds | | purse seine | 1°×1° | year | yes | wcpfc_year_1deg_purseseine_flag.rds | | purse seine | 1°×1° | year | no | wcpfc_year_1deg_purseseine.rds | | purse seine | 5°×5° | year | no | wcpfc_year_5deg_purseseine.rds |

Raw catch and effort data sets by RFMO (Last updated January 2026)

IATTC

Source: https://www.iattc.org/en-us/Data/Public-domain

File path under: data/raw/iattc

Gear	Spatial	Temporal	Organized by	Measurement type	Species	Base path	Dataset	Metadata
pole and line	1°×1°	month	flag	metric tons	tuna	month_1deg_poleline_flag	month_1deg_poleline_flag.csv	LPTuna-Atun.pdf
purse seine	1°×1°	month	flag	metric tons	tuna	month_1deg_purseseine	month_1deg_purseseine_flag.csv	PSTuna-Atun.pdf
purse seine	1°×1°	month	set type	metric tons	tuna	month_1deg_purseseine	month_1deg_purseseine_settype.csv	PSTuna-Atun.pdf
longline	5°×5°	month	flag	metric tons	tuna and billfish	month_5deg_longline_flag	month_5deg_longline_flag_mt.csv	LLTunaBillfish-AtunPicudo.pdf
longline	5°×5°	month	flag	number of individuals	tuna and billfish	month_5deg_longline_flag	month_5deg_longline_flag_num.csv	LLTunaBillfish-AtunPicudo.pdf

ICCAT

Source: https://www.iccat.int/en/accesingdb.HTML

File path under: data/raw/iccat

Additional metadata can be found here

| Gear | Spatial | Temporal | Organized by | Measurement type | Species | Base path | Dataset | Metadata | |——-|—————–|———-|————————-|——————|———|————————————–|——————————————-|—————-| | multi | 1°×1° and 5°×5° | multi | flag | - | multi | month_multigear_flag | month_multigear_flag.xlsx | t2ce-ENG.pdf | | multi | 1°×1° and 5°×5° | multi | flag and operation mode | - | multi | month_multigear_flag_operationmode | month_multigear_flag_operationmode.xlsx | t2ce-ENG.pdf | | multi | 1°×1° and 5°×5° | multi | multi | - | multi | ms_database_all/t2ce_20260130 | iccat_database.rds | t2ce-ENG.pdf | | multi | 1°×1° and 5°×5° | multi | multi | - | multi | ms_database_all/t2ce_20260130 | ms_database_all.mdb | t2ce-ENG.pdf |

IOTC

Source: https://iotc.org/data/datasets

File path under: data/raw/iotc

Gear	Spatial	Temporal	Organized by	Measurement type	Species	Base path	Dataset	Metadata
Purse seine and longline	1°×1° and 5°×5°	month	catch	-	multi	month_multigear/IOTC-DATASETS-2025-10-13-CEALL	CA_RAW	iotc/IOTC-DATASETS-2025-10-13-CE-Reference_1950-2024/IOTC-DATASETS-2025-10-13-CE-Reference_1950-2024.csv
Purse seine and longline	1°×1° and 5°×5°	month	effort	-	multi	month_multigear/IOTC-DATASETS-2025-10-13-CEALL	EF_RAW	iotc/IOTC-DATASETS-2025-10-13-CE-Reference_1950-2024/IOTC-DATASETS-2025-10-13-CE-Reference_1950-2024.csv

WCPFC

Source: https://www.wcpfc.int/sustainability/scientific-data/wcpfc-public-domain-aggregated-catcheffort-data-download-page

File path under: data/raw/wcpfc

Gear	Spatial	Temporal	Organized by	Measurement type	Species	Base path	Dataset	Metadata
purse seine	1°×1°	month	-	metric tons	tuna	month_1deg_purseseine	month_1deg_purseseine.csv	Purse_seine.pdf
drift net	5°×5°	month	-	metric tons and number of individuals	albacore	month_5deg_driftnet	month_5deg_driftnet.csv	GN_Public_by_YR_MON.pdf
longline	5°×5°	month	-	metric tons and number of individuals	multi	month_5deg_longline	month_5deg_longline.csv	Longline.pdf
longline	5°×5°	month	flag	metric tons and number of individuals	multi	month_5deg_longline_flag	month_5deg_longline_flag.csv	Longline.pdf
pole and line	5°×5°	month	-	metric tons	multi	month_5deg_poleline	month_5deg_poleline.csv	Pole_and_line.pdf
purse seine	5°×5°	month	-	metric tons	tuna	month_5deg_purseseine	month_5deg_purseseine.csv	Purse_seine.pdf
pole and line	1°×1°	quarter	flag	metric tons	tuna	quarter_1deg_poleline	quarter_1deg_poleline.csv	Pole_and_line.pdf
purse seine	1°×1°	quarter	flag	metric tons	tuna	quarter_1deg_purseseine_flag	quarter_1deg_purseseine_flag.csv	Purse_seine.pdf
longline	5°×5°	quarter	flag	metric tons and number of individuals	multi	quarter_5deg_longline_flag	quarter_5deg_longline_flag.csv	Longline.pdf
purse seine	5°×5°	quarter	flag	metric tons	tuna	quarter_5deg_purseseine_flag	quarter_5deg_purseseine_flag.csv	Purse_seine.pdf
longline	5°×5°	year	flag	metric tons and number of individuals	multi	year_5deg_longline_flag	year_5deg_longline_flag.csv	Longline.pdf
purse seine	5°×5°	year	flag	metric tons	tuna	year_5deg_purseseine_flag	year_5deg_purseseine_flag.csv	Purse_seine.pdf

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