accordingly the creation of the gfcm forum on fisheries science the conducting of regional surveysatsea and the compilation of catalogues of fishing activities aim at enhancing the quantity and quality of data used for advice the revision of existing management plans or the development of new ones is also considered necessary for main commercial fisheries as well as the fisheries that rely on or show a strong interaction with resources in need of urgent action it also recognizes that collecting socioeconomic data that are as complete timely and accurate as possible helps develop coherent policies to ensure resource and market access for smallscale fishers