Zeller et al. (2007) developed a six-step approach for implementing these concepts, as follows:

1. Identification, sourcing, and comparison of baseline reported catch times series, i.e., a) FAO (or other international reporting entities) reported landings data by FAO statistical areas, taxon and year; and b) national data series by area, taxon and year;
2. Identification of sectors (e.g., subsistence, recreational), time periods, species, gears etc., not covered by (1), i.e., missing data components. This is conducted via extensive literature searches and consultations with local experts;
3. Sourcing of available alternative information sources on missing data identified in (2), via extensive searches of the literature (peer-reviewed and grey, both online and in hard copies) and consultations with local experts. Information sources include social science studies (anthropology, economics, etc.), reports, colonial archives, data sets and expert knowledge;
4. Development of data ‘anchor points’ in time for each missing data component, and expansion of anchor point data to country-wide catch estimates;
5. Interpolation for time periods between data anchor points, either linearly or assumption-based for commercial fisheries, and generally via per capita (or per-fisher) catch rates for non-commercial sectors; and
6. Estimation of total catch times series, combining reported catches (1) and interpolated, country-wide expanded missing data series (5).

Since these 6 points were originally proposed, a 7th point has come to the fore which cannot be ignored:

7. Quantifying the uncertainty associated with each reconstruction.