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Feature Articles
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Electronic reporting: It's coming this winter for dealers
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This article is reprinted with permission of Commercial Fisheries News, the Northeast's fishing newspaper for over 30 years, ©2003 Compass Publications Inc. Commercial Fisheries News is published monthly; annual subscriptions are $21.95. To subscribe or request a sample issue: call (877) 263-4496; fax (207) 367-2490; e-mail (cfoster@fish-news.com); or click on the hot link.
GLOUCESTER, MA - One day seafood dealers will look back at the relics of their past - the file cabinets crammed with weigh-out sheets, the scraps of paper covered with illegible notes. There may be some fond memories, but few will long to return to the paper trail.
At least that's the hope of the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), which is taking major steps to shift the commercial fishing industry over to electronic reporting.
NMFS, in cooperation with state agencies, intends to bring dealers into the electronic reporting fold this coming winter. And while the whole thing sounds like a big leap, NMFS said dealers only need to have on hand a "basic modern computer with some form of Internet access" to successfully transmit required fisheries data directly to appropriate federal and/or state agencies and bring an end to paper-based reporting.
According to NMFS, one of the biggest advantages of electronic reporting is that each dealer will have a record - solid proof - of what the government has on file for statistics and related data.
That's because dealers will have their own "accounts" containing all submitted reports. The goal is that dealers will be able to access those accounts, similar to the way people access their credit card and checking accounts to monitor transactions and check balances.
Although NMFS has long-wanted to move toward electronic reporting and has been working steadily in that direction, the increase in demand for quota monitoring has added some sense of urgency to the project.
Many of the fisheries in the Mid-Atlantic are quota based, and three of the stock rebuilding alternatives being proposed by the New England Fishery Management Council for Amendment 13 to the groundfish plan call for quotas of some sort.
With electronic reporting, quotas and total allowable catch levels can be monitored in "real time," which should help fishermen avoid being subjected to the consequences of quota overruns.
Furthermore, NMFS believes that electronic reporting will reduce the potential for error due to data entry processing.
NMFS is still sorting through confidentiality issues, enhancing security, testing prototype systems, and training staffers to transition to electronic reporting, but soon will begin training dealers as well.
And all the while, NMFS is working hand-in-hand with state agencies to make this happen. At the moment, NMFS is working closely with Rhode Island, which this year began to shift its own dealers over to electronic reporting.
Anyone with questions can contact NMFS local field offices or Reggie Howe at (978) 281-9149.
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