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Hawaii DAR » Data Collection

Longline Logbooks

Introduction and History

Hawaii's longline fishery has experienced a period of dramatic growth. The number of longline vessels quadrupled from approximately 37 vessels in 1987 to 156 vessels by the close of 1991.

Initially, monitoring vessels in the longline fishery was difficult and complicated. The HDAR Longline Trip Reports (C-5) could have provided detailed information on longline fishing practices, but these reports suffered from two deficiencies; many vessels in the fleet did not file the reports with HDAR and the reports were filed as complete trip reports, rather than as day-to-day activity reports.

The Fishery Monitoring and Economics Program's (FMEP) monitoring program was based on voluntary access to fish landings records by the major buyers of longline-caught fish. The FMEP program also lacked detailed daily fishing information. Initially it covered a high percentage of longline landings. As the fishery grew, the percent coverage decreased and problems of tracking the fishery with a voluntary system became more apparent.

With the dramatic expansion of the longline fishery, the rise in interaction disputes between the longliners and various small trollers and handliners, as well as reports of interactions between the longline vessels operating in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands (NWHI) and endangered Hawaiian monk seals, the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council (WPRFMC) voted in June 1990 to implement a Federal logbook system for domestic longliners operating in the western Pacific region.

The proposal was based on the recommendation, dated May 7-8, 1990, of the WPRFMC's Pelagic Plan Monitoring Team in its annual report on the fishery. The logbook system would consist of two parts; detailed information on fishing effort and catch and reports on any interactions with endangered or protected marine animals.

Coincident with the logbook requirement was the implementation of Federal permits for longline vessels and observer coverage for longline vessels operating within 50 nmi of the NWHI north of and including French Frigate Shoals.

To monitor the longline fleet and implement the permit requirement, all U.S. domestic longline fishing vessels operating in the western Pacific were given Longline Fishing Vessel Permit Applications during November-December 1990. Approximately 145 general longline permits were issued, along with a letter from the SWR Pacific Area Office (PAO). By the first week of January 1991, 155 vessels had been issued general permits and logbooks and informed of their responsibilities as mandated by Federal law. On April 23, 1991, Federal "limited- entry" permits were required in addition to the general longline permits.

With the new logbook regulation, NMFS Western Pacific Daily Longline Fishing Log Forms must be filled in for each set made by U.S. domestic longline vessels operating in the Western Pacific and submitted to the Pacific Islands Fishery Science Center - PIFSC (formerly NMFS-Southwest Region) within 72 hours after the catch is off-loaded. Vessels that do not comply are subject to possible fines by enforcement personnel.

Data Collecting Procedures

The Fishery Monitoring and Economics Program (FMEP) of the PIFSC has been assigned the task of monitoring all domestic longline vessels fishing in Hawaii. The FMEP collects, processes, and summarizes the Hawaii vessels' logs. At present, domestic longline vessels operating out of Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands mail their logs to PIRO (Formerly the NMFS SWR PAO). These data are then transferred to the FMEP.

Daily collection procedures require FMEP technicians to visit the piers where most of the fishing vessels are docked. The home port of most of the longline fishing fleet in Hawaii is at Honolulu's Kewalo Basin and Piers 17, 35, 37, 39, and 40. These piers are located within 10 minutes of each other.

About 12 vessels are based at the other Hawaiian islands of Hawaii, Maui, and Kauai, and about 3 are based in Guam and CNMI. These vessels are required to mail their logs to PIRO in Honolulu.

To collect the daily logbook data and monitor the longline fleet the following procedures have been established by the FMEP.

  1. PIRO is contacted each morning for information on vessels that have arrived within the last 24 hours. Vessels are required to call within 12 hours of landing and a logbook "pickup" list is generated.
  2. A vessel inventory list is also generated to record the status of all vessels as in port, out fishing, or just arriving in port.
  3. Log sheets are obtained from vessels that have off-loaded or just arrived and new logbooks are issued as needed.
  4. Logs are spot-checked for accuracy and completion.
  5. Trip type is determined by questioning the captain or deck boss which species (swordfish, tuna, or mixed) was targeted.
    6. When the captain is unavailable or the log is mailed in, the trip type is determined by analyzing the times of the sets, the number of light sticks used, the type of gear used, the area fished, and the previous history of trip types for that particular vessel.
  6. If no one is on board, a notice is left informing the owner or operator of the visit and where to mail the logs.
  7. Inquiries are made concerning any interactions between vessels with endangered or protected species. If interactions are reported, the captain is consulted about the circumstances. These reports are provided to PIFSC protected species personnel.

Data Collected

Originally operators of longline vessels submitted the older version of the Federal Longline Logbook Form for each set made during each fishing trip. This form contained the following detailed information on the set and its catch.

Name of fishing vessel; permit number of fishing vessel; date, time, latitude and longitude when the set of the longline is begun and ended; the type of bait used; the length of the mainline; the number of hooks set; the number of hooks/float; the number of light sticks used; the wind speed; the wind direction; the wave height; the sea surface temperature; the date, time, and latitude and longitude when the hauling of the longline is begun and ended; the number of billfish, tuna, and other pelagic fish kept and not kept/released during the set by species; the number of sharks finned, kept whole and not kept/released during the set by species; the number of protected species by species released or lost alive and not apparently injured, released or lost alive but apparently injured and those released or lost dead; the signature of the fishing vessel operator; and date of signature.

The previous version of the Federal Longline Logbook Form introduced in 2000 provided space for FMEP personnel to enter the trip type and trip number, collected additonal information on the port and date of departure, the port and date of return, bird catch mitigation measures, the number of hooks lost and whether or not an observer was onboard. The wind speed, wind direction, wave height and sea surface temperature information were dropped from this form along with the number finned for shark species. The list of protected species was greatly increased.

The current version of the Federal Longline Logbook Form introduced in 2003 dropped the bird catch mitigation measures data.

Data Checking and Editing Before Keypunching

Once the logbooks are obtained, the FMEP staff edits each log sheet to ensure its accuracy and the proper completion of all questions. Editing procedures are as follows:

  1. Logs are brought back to the PIFSC by FMEP personnel.
  2. Logs mailed to PIRO are stamped with the date received and then submitted to FMEP for processing.
  3. Vessel name, month of landing, trip type, and sequential trip number are logged.
  4. Date sequence and number of sets are checked. If the vessel catches no fish in any particular set, the set is considered a "zero catch set" but is otherwise processed like any other log sheet.
  5. The first page of each vessel's log is stamped with a sequential longline trip number. Trip numbers start at 1 beginning each calendar year. Month and year of landing are also recorded in red on the first page, below the trip number.
  6. Vessel names are checked for correct spelling and for legibility. The vessel's permit number also is verified.
  7. Area fished is checked and should be logged in degrees and minutes with no seconds, latitude and longitude.
  8. Time should be in military time (24-hour clock) Hawaii Standard Time.
  9. Sea temperature is checked and should be recorded to the nearest 0.1?F (e.g. 73.6?F).
  10. Numbers of individuals kept and released are checked for each particular species. Tally marks in each species total and number released column should total correctly.
  11. Entries are checked for mislogging listed species in "other" category by using a different common name. For example shutome should be in swordfish column and monchong should be in the miscellaneous column.
  12. All log sheets with marine mammal interactions are duplicated and given to the Protected Species Division. All copies are stamped CONFIDENTIAL.
  13. Log sheets are filed in legal-sized folders stamped CONFIDENTIAL. Trip number and pickup date are entered in upper right corner of the folder.
  14. Folders with logs are then submitted to FDMP for keypunching.

Error Correcting After Keypunching

The Longline Logbook Computer System is a dBASE IV menu-driven system that has three main functions. These are checking and editing keypunched data, processing data, producing various data summaries, and providing an environment for users to perform these tasks with ease and in a timely manner.

This system provides a final check to ensure that data have been edited and keypunched correctly. After being keypunched and verified by FDMP, the logbook catch and effort data are imported into a temporary data base, which is then run through a checking program that prints out possible data errors.

After actual errors are corrected, the temporary edited data base is appended to the permanent edited data base. The computer system checks for the following possible data keypunching errors and alerts the data editor to the following:

  1. A latitude degree reading which is less than 10° greater than 40°
  2. A south latitude.
  3. A longitude degree which is less than 140°
  4. An east longitude.
  5. A number of hooks or light sticks for a set that is less than 200 or greater than 2,000.
  6. A trip number or set that already exists in the permanent data base. This occurs when portions of a trip's logs are received and entered at different times or when a vessel has two separate trips with the same haul date.
  7. A number of individuals kept or released for a species that is greater than 50 for a particular day.

Data Processing and Summaries

The Longline Logbook Computer System produces summary files by general areas consisting of the number of sets, number of hooks and number caught for each area. These summary files make processing reports faster and more reproducible.

The general areas categorized are the main Hawaiian Islands or inside the EEZ of the Hawaiian Islands and east of 161? W, the NWHI or inside the Hawaii 200-nmi EEZ and west of 161? W, the 200-nmi EEZs of Howland and Baker Islands, Johnston Atoll, Kingman Reef and Palmyra Atoll, and Wake Island, and outside of any of the above general areas.

Digitized maps and computer programs were used to calculate latitude and longitude ranges for each EEZ. Because the digitizing process was not completely accurate, calculated summaries should be taken as estimates.

After the summary files are produced, summary reports can be generated and these summaries can be for a specific area or for a combination of all areas. Fishing areas are designated by the latitude and longitude of gear deployment rather than retrieval.

Summary reports are produced quarterly but are treated as preliminary results because trips may extend past the end of the quarter or logs may arrive late by mail or be held by NMFS enforcement personnel. All summaries are generated by date of haul. This presents a problem because many trips extend over two quarters such as a trip from March 21, 1991 to April 10, 1991. Therefore, if the number of trips for one quarter were added to the number of trips for the next, the total number of trips would be overestimated. Thus, catch per trip from this summary may be meaningless but catch per 1,000 hooks set is more valid.

These summaries are provided within 45 days of the end of each quarter to other NMFS offices and the WPRFMC. Summary information is also periodically provided to fishermen and processors.

Accuracy of the Data

A number of problems have become apparent with logbook data quality. Although cooperation among vessel owners and captains in the logbook program generally has been good, there were several initial problems. Primarily, logs were not completed and submitted on time or were only partially completed or completed with misidentified species.

A sample of logbook data for January 1991 was reviewed by FMEP staff. "Poor" or "questionable" data were defined as being a substantial deviation between the number of fish of each species logged as "kept" and the number monitored on landing by FMEP. Out of 96 vessels checked, 50% of the catch logs received showed accurate data as determined by matching data from FMEP market data, 24% had poor data, and 26% had questionable data of various types.

Similar analysis for May 1991 showed that out of 78 vessels checked, 57.7% of the logbook data were poor or questionable. However, preliminary summary reports for August-September 1991 showed improvements. For 113 longline trips during this period, 78% recorded "good" data while 22% still had significantly "poor" data.

One of the most evident problems apparently has been vessel operators not being able to correctly identify different types of billfish and other pelagic species. To address this problem, the FMEP developed and distributed laminated English, Korean, and Vietnamese versions of a pelagic species identification guide. This guide has been popular, well received, and useful in helping fishermen identify the major pelagic fishes. However, receiving consistently good data is still a problem. Other problems, such as operators not completing their log sheets or completing them improperly, are being resolved through direct personal contact with individual vessel owners and captains.

PIRO is also working on a similar identification guide for marine mammals, but there is a need for further education of longline fishermen in order for FMEP to obtain more accurate information. For example, the Tuna/Porpoise Management Program in San Diego, California, requires that all fishermen applying for permits to fish in protected areas attend specialized workshops. These workshops examine identification of impacted species, procedures for releasing any animals caught in gear, gear requirements, and techniques to minimize interactions. Such a program is already required for bottomfish fishery participants in the NWHI.

http://www.pifsc.noaa.gov
Last updated May 01 2006