The Western Pacific Fisheries Information Network (WPacFIN) is a cooperative fisheries data warehouse that provides database management, programming and technical services to support a network of US Pacific island partners. Established in 1981, among the first two in a series of NOAA regional FINs and the only FIN housed within a NMFS science center, WPacFIN helps its participating partner agencies consolidate, summarize and provide access to the best available fisheries data in support of shared Pacific island fisheries monitoring, assessment and management needs that traverse a wide range of political, demographic, and ecological boundaries.

WPacFIN is one of six regional Fisheries Information Networks (or "FINs"). Each FIN is a cooperative state-federal program (including territories, in the Pacific and Caribbean), designed to collect, compile and integrate marine fisheries statistics into a region-specific data management system that meets the needs of fishery managers, scientists, and fishermen.

WPacFIN obtains data through cooperative agreements with participating agency and industry partners in American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI), Guam, and Hawaii. The FIN also works closely with its data clients, including PIFSC scientists, the Pacific Islands Regional Office (PIRO), NMFS Headquarters, and the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council (the Council) to tailor data compilation, integration and summarization to meet specific insular, regional and federal fisheries monitoring requirements.

Objectives

• Establish and maintain good working relationships with participating WPacFIN partners
• Maintain and update a central fisheries database at WPacFIN Central (located in the Inouye Regional Center in Honolulu) to facilitate data archival and documentation, dissemination of nonconfidential summary reports, and access to authorized users
• Assist US Pacific island fisheries agencies, NOAA field offices, and the fishing industry with technical support and some funding to address changing information needs to meet new federal requirements as they arise

Vision
Provide the best available fisheries data in the most timely manner possible to support monitoring, assessment, reporting and sustainable management of fisheries resources in the US-associated Pacific Islands Region (PIR).

Mission
Provide participating WPacFIN partners with technical expertise, database management support and programming tools to help them collect, compile, quality control, document, maintain and summarize their fishery-dependent data.