Ranching ($F_TYPE = RAN$) has been defined by ICES as:

"the production of salmon through smolt releases with the intent of harvesting the total population that returns to freshwater (harvesting can include fish collected for broodstock) (ICES, 1994)."

* Ranching with the specific intention of harvesting by rod fisheries has been practised in two Icelandic rivers since 1990 and these data are included in the ranched catch. A similar approach has been adopted for one river in Sweden (River Lagan) where hatchery origin smolts are released under programmes to mitigate for hydropower development schemes with no possibility of spawning naturally in the wild. In Ireland, ranching is currently only carried out in two salmon rivers under limited experimental conditions. A catch from one river in Denmark is believed to be mostly fish of ranched origin. No estimate of ranched salmon production was made in UK (N. Ireland) where the proportion of ranched fish was not assessed between 2008 and 2018 due to a lack of CWT returns.

## Catch Data

Regarding the units to be used for fishery catches (kg) versus aquaculture production (requested as either kg or tonnes). As aquaculture production is very large compared to fisheries catches, FARM catch weight would be reported in tonnes and fisheries catch weight ($F_TYPE ≠ FARM$) would be reported in kg.

Catch numbers should be rounded to whole fish, catch weights should be rounded to whole kg or tonnes (for $F_TYPE = FARM$). In some cases, in 2021, catch numbers were reported to decimal places. This should be avoided.

Zero catch would be entered as null (0).

Empty cells would be used for missing values. Reasons for missing values are provided in the column (`DATA qualities`) (see next section).

## Missing data descriptors

Not all catch data, in number or weight, can be reported. An explanation for missing data for catch weight or catch number (empty cells) should be provided using codes in the variable called `DATA qualities`, as defined below.

<table><thead><tr><th colspan="2">DATA qualities</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>NR</td><td><u>Not reported</u>: data or activity exist but numbers are not reported to authorities (for example for commercial confidentiality reasons).</td></tr><tr><td>ND</td><td><u>No data</u>: where there are insufficient data to estimate a derived parameter.</td></tr><tr><td>NC</td><td><u>Not collected</u>: activity / habitat exists but data are not collected by authorities (for example where a fishery exists but the catch data are not collected at the relevant level or at all).</td></tr><tr><td>NP</td><td><u>Not Pertinent</u>: where the question asked does not apply to the individual case (for example where catch data are absent as there is no fishery or where a habitat type does not exist).</td></tr></tbody></table>
When no Atlantic salmon fishery is authorised

At present, fisheries that are closed can be identified using the DATA锤 QUALITY field (code = NP). To be complete, each submission would minimally contain one row for each F_TYPE (REC, COM, RAN, FARM, INDG, SUBS). If any of these activities do not occur because they are not authorised, the catch data fields would be blank, the DATA锤 QUALITY field would be coded NP, and data fields for F_AREA, SEA锤 AGE/size class, FATE, and Reporting_class would all be coded NS (non-specific).

Reporting was not as complete as this specification, i.e. some countries only reported rows where
fisheries existed. This is not an issue while the data are extracted manually, but will need check-
ing when the process becomes automated.

8.2 Proposed changes to database schema and data en-
try

Several changes are proposed to the data entry template.

* Explicit instructions on reporting updated or revised values for previous years.

* Addition of a PS code for repeat spawners

8.3 Quality control / quality assurance

All countries/jurisdictions in the North Atlantic are expected to respond to the Data Call request from ICES. The date for response, one week ahead of the start of the WGNAS meeting, should be sufficient to allow checking of the entries in the days before or at the start of the meeting, prior to running the collation, analyses and reporting. An earlier request date could not be accommo-dated by all jurisdictions. For most jurisdictions, the data provided are provisional.

ICES will maintain the Data Call submissions for each year on the Working Group SharePoint
site.

If countries need to resubmit data from previous years, ICES will provide the most current data
sheet to a requesting party to which revisions could be made and returned to ICES.