Indicator 14.4.1 Proportion of fish stocks within biologically sustainable levels

Goal 14: Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development

Target 14.4: By 2030, effectively regulate harvesting and end overfishing, illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing and destructive fishing practices and implement science-based management plans, in order to restore fish stocks in the shortest time feasible, at least to levels that can produce maximum sustainable yield as determined by their biological characteristics

Indicator 14.4.1: Proportion of fish stocks within biologically sustainable levels

May 2024

Indicator 14.7.1

Kenya National Bureau of Statistics

Senior Manager

Food Monitoring, Nutrition and Environment

Compilation of Environment and Natural resources statistics

+254-735-004-401, +254-202-911-000, +254-202-911-001

P.O. Box 30266–00100 GPO NAIROBI

dps@knbs.or.ke

Definition:

The indicator, "Proportion of marine fish stocks within biologically sustainable levels", measures the sustainability of the world's marine capture fisheries by the abundance of the exploited fish stocks with respect to Maximum Sustainable Yield (MSY) levels.

Concepts:

BMSY: Biomass corresponding to Maximum Sustainable Yield from a production model or from an agebased analysis using a stock recruitment model. Often used as a biological reference point in fisheries management, it is the calculated long-term average biomass value expected if fishing at FMSY.

A population is: “A group of individuals of the same species living in the same area at the same time and sharing a common gene pool, with little or no immigration or emigration.”

A biological stock is: “A subpopulation of a species inhabiting a particular geographic area, having similar biological characteristics (e.g. growth, reproduction, mortality) and negligible genetic mixing with other adjacent subpopulations of the same species." (FAO, 2004-2021). The Reference List of Stocks: it is not possible to classify the sustainability of exploitation for all the exploited stocks from a country, region or the world. Therefore, the indicator must be calculated based on a subset of these stocks. The list of the stocks that are classified for status and used to calculate the indicators is called the "Reference List of Stocks".

Percent (%)

Kenya Marine and Fisheries Research Institute

Data is collected from administrative record from Kenya Marine and Fisheries Research Institute

Not specified

Not specified

Kenya Marine and Fisheries Research Institute

Kenya National Bureau of Statistics

Kenya National Bureau of Statistics is mandated to collect, compile, analyze, publish and disseminate official statistics for public use

The United Nations (UN) Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), the United Nations Fish Stocks Agreement (UNFSA [UN, 1995]) and the FAO Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries (FAO, 1995a) all require maintaining or restoring fish stocks at levels that are capable of producing their maximum sustainable yield (MSY). To fulfil the objectives of these international treaties, fishery management authorities need to undertake assessment of the state of fish stocks and develop effective policies and management strategies. As a UN Agency with a mandate for fisheries, FAO endeavours to provide the international community with the best information on the state of marine fishery resources.

Since 1974, FAO has been periodically assessing and reporting the state of marine fishery resources using a wide spectrum of methods from numerical models to data poor approaches. FAO global and regional estimates were also used as an MDG indicator for Goal 7 on environment during the period 2000-2015. This facilitated its approval as a Tier I SDG indicator by the 2nd IAEG-SDG in October 2015.

The indicator has a peculiar nature compared to more conventional SDG indicators. The indicator estimates the sustainability of fish stocks that often move across national boundaries. This led the indicator to be initially reported only at global and regional levels, with regions not corresponding to continental MDG or SDG regions but to marine regions termed “FAO Major Fishing Areas”.

The Global SDG Indicator Framework is a voluntary mechanism, but countries are required to report if data are available. As a custodian agency, the FAO works to put in action the 2030 Agenda’s emphasis on country ownership and higher the incentive to take actions at country, regional and global levels. FAO has developed, since 2018, a questionnaire approach to allow individual countries to report on the sustainability of fish stocks. The approach 1) provides a framework for meaningful country-level reporting that complements but does not alter the core methodology of SDG indicator 14.4.1 at the global/regional levels (FAO, 2011), and 2) provides countries with simplified methods to carry out fish stock assessment in data-limited contexts, to some extent overcoming the technical barriers that traditional methods presented. This is because country-level reporting will be limited to the assessment of stocks that are found only within a country’s EEZ and/or shared with neighbouring countries’ EEZs, and therefore do not include straddling stocks, highly migratory species, or stocks in Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction (ABNJ). As a result, national data alone cannot be meaningfully aggregated at global/regional levels, but it can be used to inform country progress on fish stock sustainability within the EEZ

The indicator measures the sustainability of fishery resources, and as an end-result is a measure of Target 14.4. Its derivation requires catch and fishing effort data and/or other biological or technical data and parameters as well together with scientific expertise necessary to perform stock assessment correctly. The indicator at global level is estimated by the FAO based on the methodology developed in the 1980s. Although regular updates were carried out to incorporate technical advances and changes in major fish species, some discrepancies between regions may occur in the representativeness of the reference list in practical fisheries. However, this will not pose a large impact on the reliability of the indicator’s temporal trends. For the national level, the composition of stocks within the reference list of stocks and the selection criteria used to develop the list varies, making the indicator suitable for checking countries’ own progress over time.

In each country, the data available for each stock and expertise level to conduct different types of assessments will differ. Some countries may have classic stock assessments already conducted for many of their stocks, while others may have very few or no assessments available.

For some countries, little stock assessment has been done. To help these countries and to facilitate their reporting, FAO prepared online materials and tools, including a selection of methods that can be used to evaluate stock status with data limited methods such as length-based and catch-only methods and an online platform for hands-on practice.

The Kenya National Bureau of Statistics is ISO certified based on 9001:2015 Standard requirements. The processes of compilation, production, publication and dissemination of data, including quality control, are carried out following the methodological framework and standards established by the KNBS, in compliance with the Internationally acceptable standards

The KNBS adheres to Kenya Statistical Quality Assurance Framework (KesQAF) that underlines principles to be assured in managing the statistical production processes and output.

Data consistency and quality checks are conducted through Technical Working Groups (TWGs) before publication and dissemination.

The processes of compilation, production, publication and dissemination of data, including quality control are subjected to a set criteria and standards to ensure conformity.

At the national level, data is available from 2015 to 2022.

FAO 2016-2021. Sustainable Development Goals. Indicator 14.4.1 - Proportion of fish stocks within biologically sustainable levels. http://www.fao.org/sustainable-development-goals/indicators/1441/en/

FAO 2019-2021. SDG 14.4.1 eLearning course. https://elearning.fao.org/course/view.php?id=502