Economic Data Collection in the West Coast Groundfish Trawl Fishery

Economic Data Collection Overview

For more information about submitting your form, please go to the Economic Data Collection Form page.

Monitoring the economic effects of the catch share program.

All participants of the West Coast Groundfish Trawl Fishery must complete an annual Economic Data Collection (EDC) form as required by regulation 50 CFR 660.114. 

The Vessel and First Receiver Costs and Earnings Forms, which collect information on annual expenses, and earnings, have been a requirement since 2009. We designed these forms to collect detailed economic data from vessels and buying/processing companies; however, we did not collect data from quota share permit (QS) owners. The PFMC expanded the EDC to examine the rate and characteristics of quota share owners' participation in the fishery. The EDC collected the first Quota Share Survey in 2020. As this does not apply to all EDC participants, the Quota Share Owner EDC Form is administered as part of the quota share permit renewal process.   

Who is required to submit an EDC Form?

We require Vessel and First Receiver Costs and Earnings EDC Forms from:

• Limited Entry Trawl Catcher Vessels - All owners, lessees, and charterers of a catcher vessel registered to a limited entry trawl endorsed permit.
• Catcher/Processors - All owners, lessees, and charterers of a catcher processor vessel registered to a catcher/processor-endorsed limited entry trawl permit.
• Motherships - All owners, lessees, and charterers of a mothership vessel registered to a mothership permit.
• First Receivers - All owners of a first receiver site license.
• Shorebased Processors - All owners and lessees of a shorebased processor that received round or headed and- gutted IFQ groundfish species or whiting from a first receiver.

We require a Quota Share Owner EDC Form from:

• Quota Share Owners - All owners of a Quota Share permit and account.

What is the purpose of the EDC? What happens to the data once submitted? 

Fishery managers use the data to determine whether the Catch Share program is meeting its goals of:

• Increasing the fishery's net economic benefits.
• Creating individual economic stability for participants.
• Providing full utilization of the trawl sector groundfish allocation.
• Achieving individual accountability of catch and bycatch.

All data are aggregated and confidential. Aggregated data and analyses are made available to the public, fisheries managers, and specifically, the Pacific Fishery Management Council.

You can explore the data, generate charts and tables, and download aggregate EDC data using the Fisheries Economics Explorer (Fisheye).

Who Has Access to These Data? Are They Confidential?

Responses are confidential under 402(b) of the Magnuson-Stevens Act (16 USC 1801, et seq.). NOAA Fisheries will not publish any information based on fewer than three survey responses. Additionally we will not report a summary statistic if one observation makes up more than 90% of the total value in a given category. We comply with the MSA to ensure that the identity of the submitter will only be accessible to the following: personnel within NOAA Fisheries responsible for the collection, processing, and storage of the statistics; federal employees who are responsible for FMP development, monitoring, and enforcement; personnel within NOAA Fisheries performing research that requires confidential statistics; other NOAA personnel on a demonstrable need-to-know basis; NOAA/NOAA Fisheries  contractors or grantees who require access to confidential statistics to perform functions authorized by a Federal contract or grant. In the case of a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for the data, NOAA Fisheries will seek to protect the data from release through Exemption 4 by noting the data are confidential and highly sensitive business data.

Reporting

Fisheries Economics Explorer (Fisheye)

Historical EDC Reports

Contact us

Please contact Erin Steiner at nwfsc.edc@noaa.gov or (206) 860-3215.

Vessel and First Receiver Costs and Earnings EDC Forms

Vessel and First Receiver Costs and Earnings EDC forms are required for limited entry trawl catcher vessels, catcher processors, motherships, first receivers, and shorebased processors, as described above. 

If you are also an owner of a Quota Share permit and account, you are required to submit the Quota Share Owner EDC form in addition to the Vessel and First Receiver Costs and Earnings EDC form. The Quota Share Owner form is part of your Quota Share renewal package.

Submitting your EDC Forms

Each May, we mail Vessel and First Receiver Costs and Earnings EDC forms to all fishery participants. Forms can be submitted by mail or fax. We also provide an option to submit the form online. In order to limit processing time, we encourage online submission. Completed forms are due every year by September 1. Fishery participants are responsible for completing forms by the deadline whether or not they received the forms by mail. Failure to submit the required EDC forms can delay permit renewal, vessel registration, license issuance, and quota transfers.

Types of data collected

Vessel and First Receiver Costs and Earnings EDC forms include information on vessel/plant characteristics, capitalized investments, annual expenses, annual earnings, crew/labor payments, and quota and permit expenses.

Paper Forms

Vessel and First Receiver Costs and Earnings EDC Forms

Quota Share Owner EDC Forms

All owners of a Quota Share permit are required to submit a Quota Share Owner EDC form. Separately, you may also be required to submit a Vessel and First Receiver Costs and Earnings EDC Form.

Submitting your Quota Share EDC Form

We will only accept online survey submissions as part of the annual quota share permit renewal process that begins October 1. The survey is integrated into the permit renewal portal. You can, however, view the survey questions in advance.  

Owners must submit completed forms electronically no later than November 30 of each year. We will not consider the quota share permit renewal package complete until the owner submits the survey for that permit, as specified at § 660.140, subpart D. Please refer to the regulations detailing the EDC program (50 CFR 660.114) and the updated quota share owner requirements for more specific guidance. 

Types of data collected

The quota share owners survey collects just two types of data: 1.) Descriptions of each quota share owner's fishery participation, and 2.) Quota sale earnings. Owners will only need to denote changes in subsequent years.  

Example Survey Questions

Quota Share Owners Survey