FIN Biological Sampling

The mission of the Fisheries Information Network (FIN) is to cooperatively collect, manage, and disseminate marine commercial, anadromous and recreational fishery data and information for the conservation and management of fishery resources in the Southeast Region and to support the development of a national program.

Commercial landings data are legally confidential, and cannot be released except in aggregate form. Publicly available compilations are available upon request to the Division Administrator, or from the National Marine Fisheries Service Statistics and Economics Division.

Contact Information:

Division Administrator

La. Dept. of Wildlife and Fisheries

Marine Fisheries Division

P. O. Box 98000

Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70898-9000

Telephone: (225) 765-2384

The Office of Fisheries, Marine Fisheries Division uses SAS® version 6.12 as its' database management system. The SAS® server runs in the VMS Operating System on the Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) Alpha platform. The data managers may access the databases by logging on to personal computers that are connected to a local area network or by using a stand alone terminal. The server holds large amounts of data and has the networking power needed to interface with several machines at once, allowing for concurrent usage of databases.

Hardware Components

1. Local Processing Facility

Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) ALPHASERVER Model 300 4/266

2. Ethernet

Allows for the transfer of information between the local processing facility and the various pieces of hardware and software. Uses TCP/IP software to translate various languages to permit communication among applications.

3. Microsoft® NT network

Allows access to the databases from various locations within the Baton Rouge Office and remote field offices. Each client is networked to various peripherals (IE: printservers, plotters, scanners)

4. Tape backup system

Allows computer operators to save work performed at the terminals and personal computers and backup work done in the event of power failure. This system is equipped to read 8mm tapes. The backup drive contains five, 20gb drives capable of storing 100 gigabytes of information.