Rhode Island will be the first state to offer seafood dealers a more user-friendly, Internet-based catch reporting system that will provide them and fisheries managers with real-time information for making business decisions and monitoring catch levels.
With the use of a program developed by the Atlantic Coastal Cooperative Statistics Program (ACCSP), a partnership of 23 state and federal coastal resource management agencies, dealers will be able to report information on catches immediately.
“The intent of the new system is to allow everyone to see the status of the fisheries to make better business decisions on what to spend our time on, as far as marketing, selling and processing,” said seafood dealer Eric Reid, owner of Deep Sea Fish of Rhode Island in Galilee.
The Department of Environmental Management, which currently uses paper and telephone reporting system, is working with the ACCSP to implement this program for every dealer in the state. The system will save time and paper and will supply managers and seafood dealers with more accurate catch and quota numbers, according to John Lake, the Rhode Island ACCSP coordinator in charge of setting up the system.
“This is going to streamline the process,” Lake said. “Dealers can report all landings on a Web-based system, so they no longer have to call up the state” using the telephone.
Each dealer writes a paper ticket to report catch of fish, lobsters or clams, Lake said. The dealer must also report the catch to update state quota information, and those licensed by the National Marine Fisheries Service must use the federal telephone system and the state system.
Quota information may not be updated in a timely fashion and the paper trail is extensive.
“The current system does what it’s supposed to do, but there is some lag in the system,” Reid said. “It’s a question of timeliness of reporting” data. Dealers currently report catches two times a week, which sometimes results in three or four days of data coming in at one time. “A lot of fish can be caught in four days,” he said.
The new Web-based reporting system is a win-win situation for both parties, Lake said. “The current process on the dealer’s side – they’d much rather not fill out the paper forms and make two phone calls,” he said. “It’s going to be a time-saver. For management, it’s labor intensive and expensive to run. This will reduce the paper.”
Lake added that the new system will also hopefully better prevent dealers from exceeding state quotas and will allow the DEM to better decide when to close fisheries. The prompt information return will allow dealers to better plan future trips to sea.
“It also gives us a powerful management tool,” Lake said. “Now we’ll know who landed which fish and where. It will allow us to keep track of the quota more efficiently. No one wants to shut it down too late or too early. They want the quota to be on the button.”
Lake and Reid recognized the system could save the state and dealers valuable time and money. Reid said that during the summer, operating costs increase dramatically with the increase in staff he needs to handle the paperwork. Now, Reid will be able to enter catch information daily, and access aggregate statewide catch numbers.
The system will be housed by the ACCSP, and the partnership will supply the DEM with two software technicians and software server storage space for the program. Lake said he expects Rhode Island’s 12 major dealers, who make up 85 percent of the state’s catch, to be connected to the system in the next few months. Other smaller dealers will be connected in the near future, he said, and will continue to use the phone and paper system for the time being.
Other states on the East Coast, including Connecticut, New Hampshire and Maryland, are looking to the Rhode Island pilot program for guidance, Lake said.
Dealers will be required to include the license number and registration information of the boat on which their catch landed, as well as what species was caught, the weight of the catch, and the market category and grade. For example, a dealer would have to report that he landed summer flounder, medium size and whole (dealers must specify whether the fish was gutted aboard or if it arrives whole). Dealers who purchase shellfish must also report the area from which the catch was fished, under Rhode Island Department of Health requirements.
Every dealer connected to the Web-based system will have a user ID, Lake said, and can access only his or her own information at any computer. Reid said the reporting system will also give the DEM a better idea of who is catching fish and how much.
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