Transition to timely and accurate reporting: An evaluation of monitoring programs for China’s first Total Allowable Catch (TAC) pilot fishery

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Fisheries monitoring is instrumental to effective fisheries management. Stimulated by technology development and management objective evolution, fisheries monitoring faces a transition into a more timely and accurate data reporting scheme. This transition features the replacement of traditional paper logbooks with electronic logbooks (e-logbooks). In 2017, China launched its first total allowable catch (TAC) pilot in Zhejiang Province, with an aim to develop and implement an e-logbook scheme in fisheries monitoring and management. In this study, we investigated the efficacy of e-logbook-based monitoring system against traditional paper logbooks and summarized the important lessons learned from the pilot. We compared the data reported by paper and e-logbooks, examined the role of observers and transshipment vessels in fisheries monitoring, and interviewed stakeholders for their reflections. We found that e-logbooks could improve data quality and report timeliness. However, significant differences were observed between data reported from paper and e-logbooks. These findings matched with the mixed opinions from different users. Fishermen rated e-logbooks poorly due to difficulties in use and frequent malfunctions, while managers, observers and scientists preferred e-logbooks to paper logbooks. Based on quantitative and qualitative analysis, we identified strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats for future implementation of e-logbooks. We also noted that inadequate legislations, fishermen’s low literacy, high training and running cost, and unregulated transshipment could hinder the implementation of e-logbooks. The refined lessons fill the gaps of the evaluation of TAC pilots in China and can contribute to the future application of e-logbooks in China and elsewhere.