Data Collection & Management

ACCSP was established in 1995 as one of five regional Fisheries Information Networks (FINs). FINs are collaborative state-federal programs that supply dependable and timely marine fisheries data in their respective regions. These programs were designed to address issues of inconsistent temporal and spatial coverage among various datasets. FINs standardize and centralize fishery-dependent data collection and data management along the Atlantic coast.

In 2017, ACCSP became a Commission program to increase the ACCSP’s visibility among partners and stakeholders, encourage greater participation by the states in the program’s data collection and management efforts, and enhance coordination between fisheries data experts and the Commission staff. ACCSP provides critical support for effective resource management by standardizing data collection and distribution across jurisdictions and efficiently provide Atlantic coast data for state, regional, and national data needs.

ACCSP is composed of representatives from marine fisheries management agencies coastwide, including the Commission, the three Atlantic coast regional fishery management councils, the 15 Atlantic states and the District of Columbia, Potomac River Fisheries Commission, NOAA Fisheries, and US Fish and Wildlife Service.

The Atlantic Coast Fisheries Data Collection Standards guide partner activities by defining how data should be collected and reported. These standards are agreed to by all partners. They provide detailed information on data collection policies, reporting requirements, and quality control and assurance documentation. This helps ensure consistency and compatibility across fisheries datasets, increasing the efficiency of regional and coastal stock assessments and management.

ACCSP integrates all fisheries-dependent data for the Atlantic coast into a user-friendly, online database, the Data Warehouse. The Data Warehouse harmonizes all the data received into one set of codes for variables such as species, gear, and fishing area, making it possible to combine datasets from different sources for regional and coastal analyses. ACCSP directly presents this information via the public data warehouse, and shares these data for presentation on federal portals to ensure that different stakeholders coastwide are provided the same underlying data.

ACCSP’s Standard Atlantic Fisheries Information System (SAFIS) is a coastwide fisheries data collection system developed to meet the needs of scientists, managers, and industry. SAFIS applications include web-based and mobile reporting for commercial, for-hire, and recreational fishermen and seafood dealers. SAFIS applications are available for free to all ACCSP partner agencies. ACCSP is working with partners to enable one report to complete the needs of multiple permits. ACCSP staff work with partners and industry to make reporting easier, more accurate, and more efficient by continually enhancing applications in response to changing regulations and user feedback.

ACCSP works with its state and federal partners to coordinate recreational fisheries data collection, by identifying and prioritizing activities to address current and future data needs for fishery assessors and managers on the Atlantic coast. ACCSP serves as the Atlantic Regional Coordination Group for NOAA Fisheries’ Marine Recreational Information Program (MRIP). ACCSP also provides for coordination and state conduct of several MRIP surveys from Maine to Georgia, including a field intercept survey of shore, for-hire, and private boat anglers to estimate angler catch. These intercept data are combined with the NMFS Fishing Effort Survey. In addition, the states conduct the For-Hire Telephone Survey to obtain estimates of charter boat fishing effort.

Citizen science is a form of scientific research conducted by members of the general public, often in collaboration with professional scientists or scientific institutions. It involves volunteers who collect data, make observations, or contribute to analysis. Citizen science can be an important component in stock assessments and management by providing data that are otherwise not being collected. Several ASMFC stock assessments include some citizen science data, including American eel and horseshoe crab.

ACCSP recognized the need to standardize collection of citizen science data to support fisheries stock assessment and management. The ACCSP SciFish program reviews potential partner projects to ensure they are well designed and fill data gaps and address identified research needs. SciFish additionally supports citizen science by providing a free, flexible project builder that allows users to create and customize new data collection projects. All projects are housed in a single citizen science mobile application. Start-up investment by program partners is minimized by not having to pay for building a data collection application.

ACCSP supports further innovation in fisheries-dependent data collection and management technology through its annual funding process. Each year, ACCSP issues a Request for Proposals (RFP) to its Program Partners. In the past decade, ACCSP has funded over 136 projects across 16 partners. These projects have helped establish and grow data collection programs coastwide to ensure that fisheries-dependent statistics are complete, accurate, consistent, and compatible.