Atlantic Coastal Cooperative Statistics Program: Creating Data Standards and Partner Coordination

The Atlantic Coastal Cooperative Statistics Program (ACCSP) is a state-federal partnership comprised of 23 partners. The ACCSP was established in 1995 through a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to address deficiencies in the data that constrained fisheries management along the Atlantic coast. The Program established four basic principles to ensure that fisheries dependent statistics are complete, accurate, consistent, and compatible: 1) cooperative development and implementation across jurisdictional lines; 2) coastwide data collection standards and a single, integrated data management system; 3) data on all fishing activities (e.g., commercial, recreational, and for-hire fisheries); and 4) modular design for data collection and data management projects.  Committees of the ACCSP are responsible for setting program policies and standards, deciding annual funding allocations, overall program planning, and coordination of data collection and data management programs.  Partnership is fostered through common goals, consistent and adequate funding to meet objectives and quality stewardship of the data.  Data standards are built on a foundation of partner coordination and common objectives.  Before required fields, suggested codes and other details are discussed, it is necessary to determine data usage, storage, access, ownership, maintenance, QA/QC, etc.  Holistic spatial and temporal datasets are an excellent asset to regulatory, academic and public sectors.