FishTrax, An Industry Funded Electronic Reporting and Management System for Groundfish Sectors

FishTrax is a multifaceted tool designed specifically to simplify and satisfy the reporting requirements of New England Groundfish Sectors. Sectors are defined in the Northeast as a group of persons holding limited access vessel permits under the FMP through which the sector is formed, who have voluntarily entered into a contract and agree to certain fishing restrictions, consistent with goals and objectives of the FMP, for a specified period of time. In exchange for this contractual commitment, the group is granted a total allowable catch (TAC) of specific stocks. 

 FishTrax Onboard is a stand-alone application fisherman use on their vessels to collect detailed catch information by a tow-by-tow or string-by-string basis with built in GPS capabilities used in order to determine appropriate stock attribution.  Additionally, FishTrax Onboard is also designed to send various notifications and reports as required by the implementing regulations, including Vessel Trip Reports.  FishTrax Dockside Monitoring (DSM)is comprised of two parts, the DSM Hub that receives communications from the vessels, which notify the third party dockside monitoring company that the vessel has sailed and its estimated arrival, offload and catch on board in order to streamline the selection and deployment of monitors.  Additionally, the DSM Handheld application runs on an Android-based smartphone and enables monitors to enter all weights for landed fish, digitally sign their reports, and transmit them accordingly.  FishTrax Online and SMACTrax are the tools used for sector quota management and ‘near real time’ quota usage, as adjusted by trades, for members and managers.  In varying capacities these tools are currently being utilized by eleven of the Northeast Fishery Sectors. 

The Northeast Groundfish Sector reporting system relies on multiple data streams generated by various entities.   Designing a third party system that relies on various data streams, requires a comprehensive detailed understanding of what is required and how the various data sets will be formatted and made available.  However, in New England the development of the Sector management policy and the implementation of the various components necessary to meet these objectives occurred simultaneously instead of consecutively.  Simultaneous development of fisheries management measures, and the tools needed to meet these measures results in costly, duplicative, and inconsistent systems.  Fishtrax: An Industry Funded Electronic Reporting and Management System for Groundfish Sectors will present the vision behind the system, the challenges associated with development, and how questions of proprietary ownership and confidentiality of data are being addressed.