Title: Strengthening artisinal fisheries data collection and management in Tanzania

For good fisheries management, fisheries data must be collected. It is essential for the management agency that the most appropriate and accurate information for management of the fishery is continuously collected, processed and provided in a timely fashion. In fisheries, reliable and accurate information is crucial because only well informed decision makers can make good decisions. This paper is an attempt to devise ways to improve the collection, analysis and management of artisanal fisheries statistics in Tanzania. It describes a simple sampling procedure, community based data collection model and types of data to be collected. The study also comes up with improved analysis methods for easy access of the data. The study elaborates these in marine waters as a pilot area; later on (it is hoped) the model will be introduced to all other water bodies in Tanzania. The great challenge of fisheries management is to choose the best management strategies to achieve the objectives. For this purpose, biological, economical, social and ecological fisheries information are necessary. In order for Tanzania to have all this information, the suggested analysis methods and improved database management system should be introduced.