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Fisheries Observer Program Overview
The National Marine Fisheries Service funds a number of Fisheries Observer Programs on the East Coast, West Coast, Gulf of Mexico, Alaska and Hawaii, as part of its National Fisheries Observer Program. The National Marine Fisheries Service is part of the Department of Commerce’s National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration ( NOAA ). The NMFS Northeast Region Fisheries Observer Program (FOP) oversees observing in the Northeast Region from Maine to North Carolina. In each NMFS region, the NMFS contracts with consulting companies to manage the FOP in that region. A.I.S., Inc. was originally awarded the contract for the Northeast Region Fisheries Observer Program in 2002. In 2005, A.I.S., Inc. was re-awarded a 5 year contract for the Fisheries Observer Program. |
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The objectives of the Fisheries Observer Program are to obtain data from commercial fishing operations in order to estimate stock levels, protect endangered species and manage the fisheries. Data obtained includes:
A.I.S., Inc. works closely with NMFS’s Fisheries Sampling Branch, to train, manage and deploy observers. The Fisheries Sampling Branch is part of NMFS's Northeast Fisheries Science Center in Woods Hole, MA In 2005, a new Fisheries Observer Training Center was established in Falmouth, Ma. to provide program management, observer training, data editing and data management, all in one location. Observers are hired by A.I.S., Inc, trained and certified by NMFS, then deployed to their assigned homeports to obtain sea days on commercial fishing vessels. A.I.S., Inc. Area Coordinators supervise, support, and monitor the observer’s sea day schedule. NMFS decides how many observer sea days are required by month, port, gear, and fisheries, based on requests from the NMFS Population Dynamics, Protected Species, and Social Science groups. NMFS gives the sea day schedule to A.I.S., Inc. A.I.S., Inc then divides the monthly sea days by area and assigns them to the respective Area Coordinators (AC). The AC's, in turn, assign the required sea days by gear and observer in each port and gives the observers directions on how to set up the correct trips. The observers contact the fishing captains and make arrangements to observe on their boats. When the trip is completed the observer reviews their data logs and sends them to the Fisheries Observer Training Center. The trip logs are logged in and distributed to the appropriate data editor. The editor reviews the trip logs and looks for discrepancies, missing data or errors. In addition, they add code numbers to the species and port. The editor may contact the observer to clear up any data problems. From the data editor, the logs go to the data entry staff. They enter the trip data into a specially designed computer screens and database. After each month’s data is entered, a series of audit programs are run to check for errors or anomalies. When all errors are fixed, and anomalies accounted for, NMFS personnel review and approve the data. Then it is loaded into the main database and made available to the fisheries scientists. |
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