North American Fish Trax

Contemporary demands on fishery managers and the private seafood industry require new approaches for supplying resource and product information.  These demands are consistent with a future in which the real time stock and flow of information is shared among scientist, producer, and marketer to support sustainability, improve profitability, and build a community of common interest. An example of this future is ProjectCROOS (Collaborative Research on Oregon Ocean Salmon), an industry and science partnership designed to improve management of the West Coast salmon fishery.  The project uses near real-time genetic, oceanographic, and fishery information to reduce harvests of weak salmon stocks and improve economic performance of the industry.   A fundamental project feature is the use of barcodes to track harvested fish and related information.  A website -- PacificFishTrax.com -- maps, analyzes, tracks, and communicates information for scientists, managers, fishermen, processors, retailers, consumers, and the public.   This presentation discusses the structure of Project CROOS and the management of information using the PacificFishTrax website.  Project findings including Chinook salmon stock composition, fleet behavior, catch and effort data, and stock migration patterns are presented.  The role of real time information to improve salmon policy, management, fleet performance, and seafood marketing are discussed.