Fraser River Sockeye Fisheries and Fisheries Management - Cohen ...

Fishermen are required to report by phone their logbook catch summary on aweekly and sometimes daily basis, and to mail the completed logbooks to DFO bythe end of the season. The phone-in data are used by fisheries managers to guidetheir in-season decisions. This program is mandatory to all commercial fishermen,and provides a large and cost-effective database encompassing the entire fleet. Aportion of this program is funded by the fishermen through the purchase oflogbooks.Observer Program. Unlike the logbook program which involves the total fleet, theobserver program samples only a portion of the salmon fleet. The observerprogram is the responsibility of DFO and was initiated in 1998 to operate inconjunction with the logbook program. Trained/DFO-certified observers aredeployed on-board the commercial fishing vessels, with the aim of providingaccurate and detailed catch information on a representative sample of the fleet.On-board observers monitor catch and release by species, gather biologicalsamples (fish weight, length, scales, DNA, etc.) and conduct coho/chinook conditionexperiments. Data standards for catch reporting are upheld through a rigoroustraining course and certification examination, developed by DFO in conjunctionwith Malaspina University College. Currently, DFO funds the majority of theobserver program, which is about four times the cost of the logbook program. Thecombined information from the observer and the logbook programs providesfisheries managers with timely and accurate catch and effort data. Managersutilize the daily information to track and minimize incidental catches whilemaintaining a harvest on target species.In 2010, implementation of 100% dockside monitoring for seine and troll IndividualTransferable Quota (ITQ) fisheries improved the reliability of their final catch estimates.Appendix D provides a tabular summary of the relative size of each commercial fishery,methods used to estimate sockeye catch, the degree of compliance with the currentphone-in reporting system, validation at landing sites, and qualitative ratings for theaccuracy, precision and reliability of the catch estimates.The Area B Seine fishery includes all marine fishing using purse seine gear on the B.C.South Coast (Areas 11-29). In 2010, an ITQ system was used to set catch limits for the145 active purse seine licences. The designated skipper for each of these vessels isrequired to provide a report for the previous days catch by 08:00 on the day following thefishing. These daily catch reports are typically delivered by phone to a contractor(Archipelago Marine Research Ltd.) who then enters these data into the FOS database.Some skippers upload daily catch data directly into the FOS system using electronic44