The Handbook of National Accounting: Integrated Environmental and Economic Accounting for Fisheries referred to as SEEAF, is the first of a series of handbooks, which support the implementation of the Handbook of National Accounting: Integrated Environmental and Economic Accounting 2003 (commonly referred to as SEEA 2003) by providing methodological and practical guidelines on selected components of the SEEA 2003. The handbook provides a common framework for organizing economic and environmental information related to fisheries, permitting the monitoring of the economic importance of fisheries, the improvement of fisheries management and the estimation of the full costs and benefits of fisheries. The integration of economic and environmental information in the SEEAF framework provides a useful tool for Integrated Coastal Area Management, adopted in Agenda 21, as it allows the evaluation of costs and benefits of different fisheries and non-fisheries policies and development strategies. 

The handbook was prepared by UNSD and FAO. The final draft chapters are presented here for information, prior to final editing and reproduction. In due course, the handbook will also be issued in Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian and Spanish.