The scale of inland fisheries, can we do better? Alternative approaches for assessment G. DE GRAAF Fisheries and Aquaculture Information and Statistics Service, FAO Fisheries and Aquaculture Department, Rome, Italy D. BARTLEY, J. JORGENSEN & G. MARMULLA Marine and Inland Fisheries Service, FAO Fisheries and Aquaculture Department, Rome Italy Abstract The majority of the global inland fisheries catch is obtained in developing countries. However, there are severe constraints in collection of information on inland fisheries leading to doubts over the reliability of the available information at the global and regional scales. A major constraint of data collection is the dispersed characteristics of inland fisheries, which cannot be covered by traditional approaches. Sample-based monitoring of inland fisheries with an appropriate sample frame will improve the present information on inland fisheries. However, it is argued that further rapid improvement of available information can be obtained by providing assessment tools to a global community of practitioners. One such a tool, a combination of databases making use of Google Earth, analysed in a GIS platform and yield modelling is presented and discussed. KEYWORDS: data collection, global community of practitioners, Google Earth, inland fisheries assessment. Introduction Inland capture fisheries are rooted in socially and culturally complex societies. They operate in a large variety of environments and are characterised by an extremely diverse range of gears. Inland fisheries are generally labour intensive and in most cases do not easily lend themselves to mechanisation and industri- alisation. They are thus typically driven by individual human effort and the overall number of people in the fishery. As a result they are not generally great wealth creators for individual fishers but may, in aggregate, be massive suppliers of food, labour and income. Within a changing world, it will be a major challenge to sustain the different functions of inland fisheries such as their role in food security and poverty alleviation and other ecosystem service. They do not, however, usually provide an opportunity for taxation, resulting in little incentive to invest already scarce human and financial resources into collecting information needed for policy development and management of inland fisheries. This paper provides a summary of some of the constraints in inland fisheries data collections and explores some ideas on how to do better. The official statistic – Inland waters Globally, lakes, reservoirs and wetlands cover a total surface area of about 7.8 million km 2 and are impor- tant inland fisheries (Table 1). Relatively high propor- tions of land are covered with surface waters in SE Asia, North America, East and Central West Africa, the northern part of Asia, Europe and South America. A large part of the water bodies lie in the colder north and are not very productive (Fig. 1; Welcomme 2011). In 2008, Members of the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) reported 10.2 million tonnes of production from inland fisher- ies; the majority of production came from developing countries (Table 2), and the biggest single contribution from the Mekong River (Welcomme et al. 2010). However, these data are acknowledged as being inaccurate (Coates 2002; Allan et al. 2005; Welcomme et al. 2010; Welcomme 2011; WorldBank, FAO & WorldFish Center 2010). Although statistics are improving in some countries, collecting accurate information on inland fisheries can be extremely costly. Moreover, many public adminis- trations still do not collect such information or make Correspondence: Gertjan de Graaf, Fisheries and Aquaculture Information and Statistics Service (FIPS), FAO Fisheries Department, Viadelle de Caracalla, Rome 00100, Italy (e-mail: gertjan.degraaf@fao.org) Fisheries Management and Ecology, 2015, 22, 64–70 doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2400.2011.00844.x Ó 2012 Blackwell Publishing Ltd. 64 Fisheries Management and Ecology