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Fisheries Data

Southeast Data, Assessment, and Review (SEDAR)

SEDAR is a cooperative Fishery Management Council process to improve the quality and reliability of fishery stock assessments in the South Atlantic, Gulf of Mexico, and U.S. Caribbean.

Information Portal (InPort)

The FIS InPort Metadata Catalog gives NOAA Fisheries Service and its state and regional partners the capability to share essential information about fisheries-dependent data. By storing information about all NMFS data holdings, InPort will play a critical supporting role in fisheries management.

What data sets are collected?

National Marine Fisheries has many programs to collect fisheries data in order to insure the ongoing vitality of our oceans. Management of fisheries requires accurate data from

• Commercial fisheries
  • Accumulative Landings System (ALS)
  • Cooperative Tagging System (CTS)
  • Fisheries Information System (FIS)
  • Fisheries Logbook System (FLS)
    • Pelagic Logbook Data
  • Gulf of Mexico Shrimp Statistics (GSS)
  • Highly Migratory Species (HMS)
  • Pelagic Observer Program (POP)
  • Swordfish Dealer Compliance (SDC)
  • Tip Interview Program (TIP)
  • Vessel Operating Units (VOU)
• Recreational fisheries
  • Marine Recreational Fisheries Statistics Survey (MRFSS)
  • Cooperative Tagging Center (CTC)
  • Recreational Fisheries statistics
• Social Science data
  • Shrimp Fisheries Economic Data Collection for Gulf of Mexico and South Atlantic
  • On-going Economic Data Collections

Fisheries-dependent vs fisheries-independent data

Fisheries Dependent Data

Fishery dependent data are collected directly from the commercial and recreational harvester.

Fisheries Independent Data

When fisheries scientists collect fisheries information independent of commercial or recreational fishing operations, this information is considered fisheries-independent data. Such data are needed to accurately assess marine fish populations and are used in conjunction with fisheries-dependent data for estimating total population size and mortality rates.

Fisheries independent data are collected by scientists conducting resource surveys, such as trawl and seine surveys. These surveys are specifically designed to sample in an objective manner. Consequently, the research vessels do not necessarily sample where fish are most abundant. Instead, the sampling objective is to collect information on a fish population throughout its entire geographic range.