The Department of Agriculture-National Fisheries Research and Development Institute (DA-NFRDI), through the West Pacific East Asia-Improved Tuna Monitoring Project/Sustainable Pacific Fisheries (WPEA-ITMP/SPF), held a series of year-end retooling workshops across regional clusters in Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao in September and October 2025.

The workshops, which hosted nearly a hundred technical data enumerators and analysts from various regions, provided participants with enhanced training on stock assessment requirements and digital data collection systems through the eDGES (electronic Data Gathering and Entry System) application and updated methodologies of the National Stock Assessment Program.

Distinguished experts from the DA-NFRDI led the training and skills development of the participants on fish catch monitoring and sampling methodologies, fish morphology and taxonomic tools for species identification of small and big pelagics, and identification of fishing gears and boats.

“To our enumerators, you are the backbone of this effort. The data you collect from landing sites and ports form the basis of national and regional fisheries management,” said DA-NFRDI Executive Director Dr. Maria Theresa Mutia.

Meanwhile, WPEA-ITMP/SPF Project Leader Suzette Barcoma also emphasized the value of standardized data collection protocols across the regions, highlighting steadfast efforts to address existing data gaps for more informed analyses and management of fisheries data submitted to the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission.

The DA-NFRDI, through the WPEA-ITMP/SPF and its collaboration with the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC), remains committed to further strengthening data-driven tuna fisheries management for the sustainability of tuna stocks in the Philippines and the Western and Central Pacific Ocean. ### (Mar Jhun Daniel)