Fishing Vessel Trip Report (FVTR)

The FVTR program, administered by the Fisheries Data Services Division, is a comprehensive data-collection program used to document fishing activity by vessels permitted by the Northeast Regional Office to fish for federally regulated species.

To collect trip-level catch and effort data for every fishing trip made by a vessel issued a federal permit with mandatory reporting requirements. Data are used for biological analyses and stock assessments, regulatory impact analyses, quota allocation and monitoring, economic profitability profiles, trade and import tariff decisions, allocation of grant funds among states, and analysis of ecological interactions among species.

50 CFR 648.7

Fishieries with mandatory reporting requirements include:

NE multispecies, Atlantic sea scallops, summer flounder, black sea bass, Atlantic herring, monkfish, spiny dogfish, Atlantic deep-sea red crab, tilefish, Atlantic bluefish, squid, mackerel, and butterfish. Any vessel issued one or more of these permits must submit a VTR for every trip made, regardless of fishing location or target species.

Vessels issued a Federal surfclam or ocean quahog permit have mandatory reporting requirements under those permits. However, the SC/OQ logbook is used to report, rather than the VTR.

Fisheries Data Services Division (FDSD)

55 Great Republic Drive

Vessel trip reports are considered to be business confidential and may not be released without signed approval of the permit holder on record for the time period requested.

Access to VTR data is governed by 50CFR600 - Confidentiality of Information. Access by state fishery management agency staff and Fisheries Management Council staff may be allowed through Memorandum of Understanding that are signed by the NE Regional Administrator and Directors of the State Agency or Councils that describe the need and uses of the data and list the individuals who will have access to the data. Contractors may be granted access provided they are working under contract to NOAA or a cooperating partner (state, Council, Commission) on a specific project under the oversight of a partner.

Contact POC to request access.

Access is restricted to personnel authorized in accordance with NOAA Administrative Order 216-100. A signed non-disclosure agreement must be on file for all authorized personnel. The APSD Data Request staff are the POC for non-disclosure forms.

Access to individual reports is restricted to NOAA employees and our partners who have signed non-disclosure agreements. Summary data may be made available based on the "rule of 3", i.e., there must be at least three entities included in a summary for the summary information to be made publically available. Data may be made available if there is no information included that could uniquely link the information to an individual entity (person, vessel operating unit, business, etc.). Individually identifiable information may not be released without written authorization from the provider or by court order.

There are no constraints on the use of the metadata associated with this program.

Relational Database.

Vessel logbook data can be considered representative of all self reported vessel data in the NERO.

The Vessel Trip Reports are submitted by vessel operators and thus contain self reported data. The information in these reports is compared against the information in other data systems.

Vessel reported data is routinely audited for completeness. Vessel reports missing obvious data fields are sent back to vessel owners.