Large Pelagic Logbook Trip Survey (Vessels)

This data set contains catch and effort for fishing trips that are taken by vessels with a Federal permit issued for the swordfish and sharks under the Highly Migratory Species (HMS) fishery management plan. Fishermen that own vessels with permits in these fisheries are required to complete a vessel logbook for every trip in which any species in the Highly Migratory Species fishery management plans are caught and landed. Fishermen are not required to report fishing trips in which other than these species are caught. However, fishermen are required to submit a no-fishing report if they did not fish for or catch any HMS species during a calendar month. In 1986, the Southeast Fisheries Science Center (SEFSC) initiated a logbook program for vessels that held a federal vessel permit to fish for swordfish in the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico. In 1993, a similar program was initiated for vessels with a federal permit to fish for sharks that are included in the HMS fishery management plan. In order to provide sufficient level of detail for fishing effort by the longline vessels, the catch and effort data need to be reported for each longline set. Consequently, a single logbook form was designed for the fishermen to record the catch (numbers of animals caught) and effort, which includes data on the length of the longline, the number of hooks and the duration of the set. To reduce the number of times that fishermen need to record certain pieces of information, e.g., location of unloading, duration of trip, number of crew, a trip summary form was designed in 1999 that includes the trip-related information that is the same for every set. This redesign of the logbook form resulted in two forms, the trip summary and the set forms. Only one trip summary needs to be completed for each trip, but a separate set form needs to be completed for each longline set made during the trip. At the same time, additional questions were added to the trip summary form to collect information on the expenses that the vessels incurred during the trip. Initially, this information was voluntary and the fishermen did not have to provide the cost data whereas the catch and effort data are mandatory and the vessels permit will not be renewed if logbooks are not received for every trip where swordfish and/or sharks are caught and landed.

There are two primary purposes for the implementation of this data collection program. The logbook program was initiated to provide comprehensive landings data by trip for swordfish. These data are needed to meet the commitment of the United States to the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tuna (ICCAT). Second, the program was implemented to provide a means of calculating catch per unit effort for swordfish caught in the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico

Logbooks kept by HMS captains to collect data per set on location, catch and effort

Location Of The Main Office Of The South East Fisheries Science Center

Read and sign for NOAA Administrative Order 216 100 Read and sign System Access Application (see URLs) Contact DBA Daniel Leon at daniel.leon noaa.gov for userid password.

Waiver Needed

Range checks and validation against historical distributions.

Confidentiality. This data is currently wavered under the current NOAA guidelines for relational databases.

Archiving process under development

The data resides on a secure database server only accessible through the NMFS network requiring separate multi-factor authentication for both network and database access.