The information in the above table should be treated with caution. The FAO states: “The numbers in this table have been estimated based on the information provided in the regional reviews in this document and thus these should be referred to for more details regarding sources of information.

The following considerations must also be taken into account:

• information collected through the 2007 FAO Questionnaire on High Seas Deepsea Fisheries is incomplete, especially with regard to the level of detail required;
• some vessels fishing in different fisheries within a region or fishing in more than one region may have been counted more than once;
• information about illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing and IUU vessels has not been included in the table;
• vessels and catch in the Mediterranean and Central Atlantic have not been included in this table;
• there are discrepancies in the information available on catch and numbers of vessels in some regions depending on the source of information used although there has been a steady improvement in the information available in a number of regions as states and regional fisheries management organizations/arrangements (RFMOs/As) have undertaken efforts to implement the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) Resolution 61/105; and
• the catch estimates do not include estimates of discards, with discards likely to constitute a substantial portion of the catch in at least some high seas bottom fisheries.”