Trip Interview Program

The Trip Interview Program has the purpose of estimating the age distribution of fish in the population and how the distribution changes over time. This is critical information for the assessment of the population dynamics over time.

The collection of data for this program is conducted by port agents. These field biologists visit docks and fish houses to interview the fishermen and take length samples from their catch. For some trips, the port agents are at the location when the fish are being unloaded and can measure and weigh individual fish as they are being unloaded. At other times, the fish have already been unloaded and the port agent is given permission to measure and weigh a sample of the catch from the storage containers at the fish houses.