The landings data, maintained by the SEFSC, are monthly totals of the quantities landed and the value of the landings for each species. Because these data are summaries, they do not contain information on the identification of the fishermen or vessel. However, several states in the Southeast do collect landings statistics for individual trips. The state of Florida was the first to implement a trip ticket program in 1985. In 1995, the state of North Carolina passed a license to sell law that required seafood dealers to report all landings statistics by trip and identify the vessel or individual that sold the product. In 1997, the state of Louisiana initiated their trip ticket program and in 1999 Georgia also initiated a trip ticket program. For a list of people to contact for fishery statistics in each state in the Southeast Region, click here state statistics personnel.

In addition to the quantity and value (or price per pound),information on the gear used to catch the fish and the area where the fishing occurred are also recorded in the general canvass data. Because the quantity and value data are collected from seafood dealers, the information on gear and fishing location are estimated and added to the data by data collection specialists. In some states, this ancillary data is not available.

Fisheries statistics for the United States are available online through the National Marine Fisheries Statistics home page. To connect to this site, click on Commercial Fishery Statistics.

In many coastal areas, trained field agents assist with the collection of fisheries statistics. These individuals are strategically located so they can maintain contact with the fishermen and are integrally involved with the fishing communities. Among other duties, these port agents provide information on the types of gear, fishing area and distance from shore for the general canvass data. The port agents are also involved in the collection of Gulf shrimp statistics, biological data collection and the operating unit survey. Return to the list of statistics program and click on these topics for a description of the respective data collection program.

There are two shortcomings associated with fishery statistics that are collected from seafood dealers. First, dealers do not always record the specific species that are caught and second, fish or shellfish are not always purchased at the same location where they are unloaded, i.e., landed.

Dealers have always recorded fishery products in ways that meet their needs, which sometimes make it ambiguous for scientific uses. Although the port agents can readily identify individual species, they usually are not at the fish house when fish were being unloaded and thus, cannot observe and identify the fish. Species identification is a critical part of the biological sampling program (also known as the Trip Interview Program) operated jointly by the National Marine Fisheries and the fishery agency in each coastal state in the Southeast Region.

The second problem is accurate information on the gear used and the location where the fish were caught. For the states with trip ticket programs, information on the gear and area fished is collected on the trip ticket form. For other states, this information is estimated, usually by the local port agent.

To improve the quality of data on fishing effort and location, the Southeast Fisheries Science Center implemented vessel logbooks for several federally managed fisheries. For more information on the vessel logbook programs, click here Fisheries Logbook Program