As of early , scientists from the five countries have selected a focus species (skipjack tuna, Katsuwonus pelamis), reviewed the available evidence and selected a common stock assessment method to assess the data. Scientists are now working within single-country groups to use this method to analyse their own data. The results of that analysis are then shared by the scientists with the other countries. This individual country focus and sequencing avoids countries having to share raw data, while allowing regional scientists to leverage their collective expertise and pool evidence to build a shared scientific consensus on the state of fish stocks. This consensus could provide a foundation for further cooperation by states at the official level.

Hoyt Peckham is leading the development of WCS’ new global Small-scale Fisheries program. Prior to this, Hoyt founded and led the The SmartFish Group to incentivize more responsible fishing across Mexico and beyond. He holds a BA in biology and English from Bowdoin College, a doctorate in evolutionary ecology from the University of California at Santa Cruz, and was awarded a Pew Marine Conservation Fellowship. Hoyt has experience as a captain, diver, fisher, ecologist, and serial entrepreneur working in and on fisheries in Latin America, Polynesia, the Caribbean, NW Atlantic, SE Asia and Japan, and his specialties include responsible seafood, social enterprise, and transparency and equity in value chains.

Concerns about overfishing have existed for more than a century. But it is only relatively recently that intensive fisheries management – in some form or other – has become commonplace and effective. Today, most developed countries conduct scientific research on their fish stocks and ecosystems, restrict catch or fishing effort based on trends in stock health and have an enforcement system to make sure that regulations are obeyed. We consider these elements essential to modern fisheries management – but, with few exceptions, these elements were not in place years ago.

In contrast to the proactive management observed in Alaska, fisheries on the Pacific west coast of the lower states followed the pattern seen more broadly around the world: fishing pressure increased all the way up until the s, then declined. Changes made to the Magnuson-Stevens Fisheries Management and Conservation Act in required overfished stocks to be identified and rebuilt on a strict timeline. Allowable catches were dramatically reduced, sometimes by over per cent. The size of the fishing fleet declined and the abundance of the fish stocks increased — all but one of the stocks classified as overfished are now at or above management targets. Consequently, local fishing communities were devastated: processing plants closed, boats were tied up, and fishing income declined dramatically. Ironically, the proportion of the allowable catch harvested also declined dramatically, and current scientific evidence indicates that much less drastic reductions in catch would have allowed stocks to rebuild, while at the same time protecting fishing communities

This work is led by WorldFish and Timor-Leste’s Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries. It is part of the CGIAR Research Program on Fish Agri-Food Systems (FISH). The pilot project in Timor-Leste was funded by The Royal Norwegian Embassy in Jakarta, and developed further under two Inspire Challenge awards from the CGIAR Platform for Big Data in Agriculture, in partnership with Pelagic Data Systems.