Methodology:
The General Authority for Statistics uses a unified working methodology that is consistent with the nature of each statistical product in all of its statistical work. As a result, it is dependent on the Manual of Statistical Proceedings in accordance with the international organizations' established working procedures. The statistical product has eight basic stages, plus a ninth stage known as "Comprehensive Management," as shown in the following illustration and explained below:
The first 3 stages (Scope, Design and Organization) are cooperative processes between GASTAT and its clients, represented by developmental entities data users, while stage 4 (Data Collection) is done through GASTAT’s cooperation with the statistical population, whether households or establishments, in order to complete data and information. The remaining three stages (Tabulation, Revision and Publication) are purely statistical ones, undertaken by GASTAT. Then, stage 8 (Assessment) is carried out with clients. However, the Management stage is an administrative and organizational procedure applied across all stages. These stages have been applied to the marine fishing publication as follows:
First Stage: Scope
It serves as the foundation for the creation of the Marine Fishing Publication. It is also considered the first stage of collaboration between the General Authority for Statistics and its governmental partners, as the Ministry of Environment, Water, and Agriculture and Zakat, Tax and Customs authority was communicated with as an official source of data, a provider of data, and a beneficiary of data all at the same time. The goal of interacting with authorities is to gain a knowledge of the demands, identify the requirements of data users, and consider their perspectives in order to assure the achievement of all of the marine fishing statistics' objectives, which are as follows:
1. Support for decision makers, researchers and those interested in updated fishing in Saudi Arabia.
2. Provision of updated statistics on:
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Total catch from marine fisheries
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Number of fishing boats in the Arabian Gulf and the Red Sea.
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Number of labor force in fishing.
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Catch from the traditional fishing by region in the Red Sea.
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Catch of shrimp in the marine fisheries.
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Total quantity of fish and shrimp imports by product groups.
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Total quantity of fish and shrimp exports by product groups.
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Total quantity of fish and shrimp re-exported by product groups.
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KSA imports of marine-products at country level.
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KSA export of marine-products at country level.
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Development loans granted to the field of marine fishing at the level of administrative regions in Saudi Arabia.
Second Stage: Design
This is the design stage of statistical work as an integrated product. During this stage, the tools and methods of data collection are set forth. Clients are engaged in all these processes to take their feedback into account, so that the product would live up to their expectations.
The most important outputs of this stage are:
1. Statistics sources:
The Marine Fishing Statistics Publication relies on a major source for its data, allowing it to provide comprehensive data on fishing statistics in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, including statistics from administrative records, which can be obtained annually and on a regular basis, enabling GASTAT to calculate and issue its indicators in the Marine Fishing Statistics Publication.
The following table shows the type of data provided by each source of fishing statistics:
2. Terms and concepts related to the Marine Fishing Statistics Publication:
Fisheries:
According to fishing regulations relating to fishing licenses, the marine fisheries has been divided into two sections, namely, industrial and traditional fisheries.
Industrial Fisheries:
It refers to the fisheries industry, which operates fishing boats that are more than nine metres long and are outfitted with contemporary equipment such as a fish-seeker, electronic navigation devices, communication devices, a winch, and highly efficient fishing facilities.
Traditional Fisheries:
It refers to the fishing industry, which employs conventional fishing boats ranging in length from 5 to 20 meters and do not use the aforementioned contemporary navigation and technological equipment, with the exception of the usage of a winch and shrimp bottom trawls in the Arabian Gulf.
Catch:
The catch is a commodity obtained by fishing and comprises all landings of fish, crabs, prawns, and shellfisheries, as well as any captured animals or plants. The catch that was discarded is not tallied. The catch is calculated using the live weight of the fish in kilos or metric tons. As a result, any catch landing as eviscerated fish, gillless fish, or any other form must be converted into live weight. Catch information is frequently gathered through in-person observation of the number of fish or ship's tackles. The fish weights are calculated by multiplying the observed number of fish, containers, or ship's tackles by the average weight of the fish, container, or ship's tackle as determined by a previous survey of these species.
Fishing Trips:
The number of fishing trips means the number of fishing operations carried out by the boat. The number of fishing excursions can be calculated by counting the number of fishing boats that depart from the landing center to go fishing or the number of boats that return from fishing to the landing center.
Fishing Days:
It refers to the length of the fishing trip, expressed in days, and in the case of a boat fishing at night from night to morning the next day, the number of fishing days is calculated as one fishing day.
Traditional Fisherman:
It refers to a Saudi national who works in person on one of the traditional fishing boats (and the traditional fisherman can own four traditional fishing boats).
Investor Fisherman:
This refers to a Saudi citizen or corporation that invests in fishing using sophisticated fishing boats.
Improvised fisherman:
He is a Saudi citizen who enjoys fishing but does not own any fishing boats (he is either a beach fisherman or agrees with the owner of one of the fishing boats to work on his boat).
Fishing Labor:
It refers to persons engaged in fishing on a fishing boat without taking into account their nationality. Fishing labor are divided into two types: the Saudi fishing labor and the non-Saudi fishing labor. The fishing labor must be registered as labor with the owner of the fishing boat, whether a fisherman or an investor.
Temporary Fisherman:
It refers to the children of traditional fishermen who are under 18 years of age and who are engaged in fishing.
Volume of imports and exports:
It expresses the volume in net weight, which is the total weight of the commodity after the weight of the ligature and packaging is deducted.
Value of imports:
The value of imports is calculated on a C&F basis (Cost & Freight). The value represents the cost of the cargo, insurance, freight, and other costs associated with the goods' arrival at the port of entry, excluding customs duties.
Development loans granted to marine fishing:
Loans that are provided to finance the fields of marine fishing, whether for shrimp breeding projects, fishing boats or fishing gear.
Catch and fishing effort data for marine fisheries from the centers and branches shown below:
3. Coverage:
Spatial coverage:
Coasts of the Arabian Gulf and the Red Sea of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Temporal coverage:
Data published in this version represents a time series from 2017-2021.
Third Stage: Organization
It is the final stage of preparation, during which the procedures for the work required for the preparation of fishing statistics have been developed, which will begin in the next stage "collection" and end with the "assessment," the organization and collection of such procedures, and the determination of their most appropriate sequence in order to realize a methodology that achieves the fishing statistics' objectives. These procedures have also been described and implemented in order to make future cycles easier to update. The statistical work procedures have been examined and tested to ensure that they meet the needs of preparing the final version of the fishing statistics. In addition, a procedure for carrying out statistical work has been adopted, and a road map for implementation has been developed.
Fourth Stage: Collection
GASTAT has collaborated with ministry of Environment, Water and Agriculture and Zakat, Tax and Customs authority to obtain data on marine fishing statistics from administrative records available in that entity via official correspondence to the data owner. The data is sent via e-mail and various modes of transportation. The data is uploaded and maintained on GASTAT databases in order to prepare for inspection and review in accordance with scientific statistical data and quality standards. The data source is referred to if any observations are detected. Coordination has also been made with GASTAT's relevant departments to provide them with data that meet the needs of marine fishing statistics.
Fifth Stage: Disaggregation:
During this stage, the specialists undertook a data processing and analysis process that was based on several procedures, as follows:
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Sorting and arranging data in sequence or in different groups or categories.
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Summarizing detailed data into key points or data.
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Combining many data segments and make them interconnected.
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Processing missing data.
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Processing illogical data.
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Converting data into statistically significant data.
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Organizing, presenting, and interpreting data.
The data from the marine fishing statistics are presented in appropriate tables in order to summarise, understand, and extract their results; additionally, they are compared with other data, and statistical significances about the selected community are obtained.
Sixth Stage: Revision
First: Data outputs validation:
In addition to the revision process applied to the collected data in the fourth stage to check their accuracy, all the outputs are stored and uploaded to the database after being calculated by GASTAT to be reviewed and processed by specialists through modern technologies designed for this purpose.
Second: Dealing with confidential data:
According to the Royal Decree No. 23 dated 07/12/1397, data must always be kept confidential, and must be used by GASTAT only for statistical purposes. Therefore, the data are protected in the data servers of GASTAT.
It is not permissible in any way to disclose any individual data about the establishment. The date prepared for publication is just aggregated statistical tables at the level of the Kingdom, the administrative regions, and the main cities according to their characteristics.
Seventh Stage: Publication
First: Preparation and Process of the Results Designed for Publishing:
During this stage, GASTAT coordinated, organized and reviewed the data of the publication. Then, publishing tables and charts of data and indicators, metadata, and methodology were all prepared and processed to be published in both languages Arabic and English.
Second: Preparing Media Kit and Announcing the Date of the Release:
During this period, the Authority is preparing the media kits to announce the date of releasing the publication through media, in addition to its various platforms in social networking sites. The publication will be published firstly on GASTAT’s official website in different formats, such as Excel format. to be easily reached for all clients and those who are interested in marine fishing statistics in KSA, and to be listed in the Statistical Library at GASTAT’s website.
Third: Communication with Clients and Providing them with the Publication:
GASTAT believed in the importance of communication with the clients, therefore, once the publication is released, GASTAT will communicate with the clients and provide them with the publication. GASTAT will receive the questions and enquiries about the publication and its results through its various channels as follows:
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GASTAT’s website: www.stats.gov.sa
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GASTAT’s email: info@stats.gov.sa
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Client support’s email cs@stats.gov.sa
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An official visit to the headquarters of GASTAT in Riyadh or one of its branches in the regions of the Kingdom.
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Official letters.
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Statistical help line (920020081).
Eighth Stage: Evaluation
All GASTAT’s clients who used the results of the publication will be contacted again in order to assess the entire statistical process. This is done for improvement purposes in order to obtain high-quality data. The improvements include: methodologies, procedures and systems, statisticians’ skill level, as well as statistical work frameworks. This stage is carried out with data users and GASTAT clients according to the following steps:
First: Collecting measurable assessment inputs:
The most important comments are collected and documented from their sources at various stages, such as those made by specialists concerned with the review, verification and analysis of data collected from administrative records. Comments submitted by users of the data after publication are also collected, followed up and monitored through the media or the observations of clients received by GASTAT through its main channels.
Second: Assessment:
It is done by analyzing the collected assessment inputs, and comparing the results of this analysis with the ones predicted previously. Therefore, a number of possible improvements and solutions are identified and discussed with specialists, experts, and concerned partners. During this step, clients' performances and satisfaction levels of using the results of KSA marine fishing statistics are measured. Based on these procedures, the recommendations for obtaining high quality data for the next KSA marine fishing statistics are all agreed upon.
Ninth Stage: Management
It is a comprehensive stage that is required to carry out each stage of the marine fishing statistics production. During this stage, the plan was set, which includes the feasibility study, risk management, financing methods, in addition to expenditure mechanisms. The plan also covered the development of performance indicators, quality criteria, and manpower map required for production. Through this plan, the implementation process of the tasks assigned to different departments at each stage will be followed up and reported, and the publication will be uploaded to ensure that GASTAT meets its clients’ requirements.
