This dataset lists the spatio-temporally aggregated size frequencies of tuna, tuna-like (i.e. billfish, bonitos, and mackerel) and by-catch species harvested by the french fisheries in the Atlantic and Indian oceans from 2005 to 2017. Species-specific size frequencies expressed in centimeters are stratified by fishing gear, vessel flag reporting country, fishing mode (i.e. type of school), type of catch (e.g. landed, discarded), time (regular intervals of 1 month) and area (statistical squares of 1° longitude and latitude). The data primarily comes from the onboard observers.

These data were collected by the Observatory of Exploited Tropical Pelagic Ecosystems (Ob7) of the French National Research Institute for Sustainable Development (IRD). The source fine-grained data (i.e. precise location and date) were first extracted from the database and then aggregated on a 1 month timeframe and 1° longitude and latitude resolution grid to produce this dataset. Additional details are provided in the « supplemental information » and in the « lineage » sections.