American Samoa Longline Logbook

This data system contains the logbook data of vessels unloading in American Samoa. In 1992, the logbooks of three longline trips conducting an experiment to test the vertical longlining concept were submitted. With the implementation of the federal longline logbook program in 1996, logbook submissions resumed. The fishing occurs in the southern central Pacific (90 deg W - 170 deg E, 0 deg S - 45 deg S). Data on interactions with protected species are also collected.

The Federal longline logbook program was implemented by the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) in November 1990. Logbooks are filed by all operators of fishing vessels conducting longline fishing operations on the High Seas and within the U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone in American Samoa, Guam, Hawaii, the Northern Mariana Islands, and U.S. possessions in the western Pacific and offloading in U.S. ports.

In January 1996, in response to the developing longline fishery, a federal longline logbook system was implemented by National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS). All longline fishermen are required to obtain a federal permit which requires them to submit logs containing detailed data on each of their sets and the resulting catch. Federally supplied books of numbered Longline Logbook Forms are issued by the Department of Marine and Wildlife Resource (DMWR) to all permitted longline vessels.

The data are confidential and can only be presented in summarized form to the public. However, researchers with appropriate clearance can access the detailed data.

SOURCE ID FC048

Hard copy logsheets are locked in a secured area. The electronic data are stored on government computers with all the proper Government security measures in place, including firewalls, individual username login, and password protection.

Contact POC. Non-confidential summary data provided.

Send written request to PIFSC and requires approval by the PIFSC data owner.

Requires signing a PIFSC non-disclosure statement for fisheries confidential data.

QC review prior to data entry. Some automated QC during data entry. Data validation program is run on data in the database, and necessary corrections are made to the database.

NCEI-MD does not accept sensitive data at this time

PIFSC ITS performs scheduled back-ups.

Data was recorded at sea by permitted fishermen on Federal logbooks, and data entry was conducted at PIFSC to create ASCII fixed record length flat files. The flat files were loaded into a database, and the LLPS data validation program was run on the data. Clean data was extracted from the database and then loaded into an Oracle database flat table for authorized access.