CONTENTS
Preface
Chapter 1
Introduction
1.1 Motivation for This Document
1.2 Historical Perspective
1.3 Overview
1.4 Acknowledgments
1.5 Citations
Chapter 2 -
Groundfish Data Collection in Washington
2.1 Introduction
2.1.1 Geographical Overview
Major ports
Major fishing grounds and principal species landed
Port samplers
2.1.2 History of Data Collection Systems
2.1.3 Legal Authority to Collect Data
Obligations of fishers
Noncompliance
2.2 Fish Ticket/Landing Receipt System
2.2.1 Market Categories
2.2.2 Processing System
2.3 Logbook System
2.3.1 Groundfish Trawl
Collection
Data entry
Error checking
2.4 Species-Composition Sampling
2.4.1 A Hypothetical Example
2.5 Biological Sampling
2.6 Estimating Derived Quantities
2.6.1 Trawl Catch and Effort: Point Estimates
Tow-expanded values
Distributed values
Rockfish species catch through 1992
2.6.2 Trawl Catch and Effort: Variance Estimates
Tow-expanded values
Distributed values
Rockfish species catch through 1992
2.6.3 Non-Trawl Catch and Effort
2.6.4 Catch-at-Age
2.6.5 Relation to PacFIN
2.7 Acknowledgments
2.8 Citations
Chapter 3 -
Groundfish Data Collection in Oregon
3.1 Introduction
3.1.1 Geographical Overview
Major ports
Major fishing grounds
Principal species landed
Port biologists and field staff
3.1.2 History of Data Collection Systems
3.1.3 Legal Authority to Collect Data
Obligations of fishers
Noncompliance
3.2 Fish Ticket/Landing Receipt System
3.2.1 Market Categories
3.2.2 Processing System
Data entry and error checking
Data processing in Portland
3.2.3 Groundfish Landings Not Covered by the Fish Ticket System
3.3 Logbook System
3.3.1 Groundfish Trawl
Collection
Data entry and error checking
3.3.2 Other Gears
3.4 Species-Composition Sampling
3.4.1 Sampling Protocol
3.4.2 A Hypothetical Example
3.4.3 Processing System
Data entry and error checking
Sampling coverage of the fishery
3.5 Biological Sampling
3.5.1 Sampling Protocol
3.5.2 Age Determination Methods
3.5.3 Processing System
Data entry and error checking
Sampling coverage of the fishery
3.6 Estimating Derived Quantities
3.6.1 Landings by Area
3.6.2 Rockfish Landings by Species
3.6.3 Catch-at-Age
3.6.4 Other Estimates
3.7 Acknowledgments
3.8 Citations
Chapter 4 -
Groundfish Data Collection in California
4.1 Introduction
4.1.1 Geographical Overview
Major ports
Major fishing grounds
Principal species landed
Port biologist locations
4.1.2 History of Data Collection Systems
Documentation
4.1.3 Legal Authority to Collect Data
Obligations of fishers
Noncompliance
4.2 Fish Ticket/Landing Receipt System
4.2.1 Market Categories
4.2.2 Processing System
4.2.3 Groundfish Landings Not Covered by the Landing Receipt System
4.3 Logbook System
4.3.1 Groundfish Trawl
Collection
Data entry and error checking
4.3.2 Other Gears
4.4 Species-Composition Sampling
4.4.1 Sampling Protocol
4.4.2 A Hypothetical Example
4.4.3 Processing System
4.5 Biological Sampling
4.5.1 Sampling Protocol
Rockfish
Dover sole
4.5.2 Processing System
4.6 Estimating Derived Quantities
4.6.1 Landings by Area
4.6.2 Annual Estimates
Rockfish
Dover sole
4.6.3 Monthly Estimates to PacFIN
4.7 Acknowledgments
4.8 Citations
Chapter 5 -
State/Federal Groundfish Sampling Programs
5.1 Introduction
5.2 Sablefish
5.3 Lingcod
5.4 Pacific Hake
5.5 Acknowledgments
5.6 Citations
Chapter 6 -
Pacific Fisheries Information Network
6.1 Introduction
6.2 PacFIN System, 1981-87
6.2.1 Groundfish Data Collected by State Fishery Departments
6.2.2 Other Data
6.3 PacFIN System After 1987
6.3.1 Redefinition Project - Specification
6.3.2 Redefinition Project - Development
6.3.3 Vessel Summaries Subsystem
6.3.4 Transition to UNIX/Oracle Computing Environment
6.3.5 Limited-Entry Permit Subsystem
6.4 Current PacFIN System
6.4.1 Overall Data Flow
6.4.2 PacFIN Database Tables
Code list tables
Fish ticket tables
Proportion tables
Summary tables
Other tables
6.4.3 Central Processing - Update
6.4.4 Central Processing - Retrieval
6.4.5 Data Completeness
6.4.6 Confidentiality of Data
6.5 Acknowledgments
6.6 Citation
Chapter 7 -
Comparison of the Washington,
Oregon, and California Groundfish Data Systems
and Discussion of Potential for Improvements
7.1 Introduction
7.2 Similarities and Differences Among the State Systems
7.3 Logistical Constraints
7.4 Opportunities for Standardization
7.5 Other Opportunities to Improve the System or Increase Efficiency
7.6 Recommendations
7.7 Acknowledgments
7.8 Citations
Appendix A - Examples of fish tickets used in Washington,
Oregon, and California
Figure A-1 / Figure A-2 / Figure A-3 /
Figure A-4 /
Appendix B - List of common and scientific names for species of fish
included in this document
PREFACE
The Pacific Groundfish Statistics Working Group convened for the first time in June 1992 in Seattle, with the primary objective of reviewing the data collection and processing procedures used to monitor commercial groundfish landings in Washington, Oregon, and California. At this meeting, the Group unanimously agreed that complete documentation of these procedures was long overdue and decided to embrace the daunting task of assembling the material that appears in this Technical Memorandum.
Earlier attempts at documenting data collection systems for U.S. Pacific coast groundfish fisheries resulted in rather general and superficial descriptions of the monitoring programs. This was primarily due to the very complex nature of the systems, in which the scope and intricacies of the data collection programs used in the three states had evolved largely independently. At the outset, the Group recognized that considerable attention, planning, and logistical and financial support would be needed to complete this Technical Memorandum. We thank all of the members of the Group for preparing their respective chapters in a timely fashion and for addressing the recommendations made by the editors.
We thank Stan Allen of the Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission and Rick Methot of the National Marine Fisheries Service (Northwest Fisheries Science Center, Fishery Analysis and Monitoring Division) for financial support, without which this document would never have been completed. We thank Julianne Pagel of the Publications Unit of the National Marine Fisheries Service (Northwest Fisheries Science Center) and Tonya Builder of the National Marine Fisheries Service (Northwest Fisheries Science Center, Fishery Analysis and Monitoring Division) for reviewing drafts of this report and for editorial suggestions that greatly improved the final version. Finally, we thank Alec MacCall of the National Marine Fisheries Service (Southwest Fisheries Science Center, Tiburon Laboratory) for encouraging us to undertake this task and to publish this Technical Memorandum.
To all who were involved, thanks for your perseverance and patience.
David B. Sampson
Paul R. Crone
