Philippine Fisheries Observer Programme Web Blog

A fisheries observer is an independent specialist who serves on board commercial fishing vessels, or in fish processing plants and other platforms, and is employed by a fisheries observer programme, either directly by a government agency or by a third party contractor. Observers are usually the only independent data collection source for some types of at-sea information, such as bycatch, catch composition, and gear configuration data.

Fisheries-dependent information is critical for the responsible management and conservation of living marine resources, and many worldwide marine resource management regimes utilize fisheries observers for the collection of this data.

A fisheries observer programme is responsible for providing the training and support necessary for deploying observers on board fishing vessels in order to collect the fisheries-dependent information essential to achieving the management objectives of the programme.

Fisheries observer programmes vary according to the management objective. The three main objectives are

Scientific: including stock (targeted and / or bycatch species) assessments and predictions of future fisheries exploitation of stocks. Observer duties include collection of catch composition and environmental / ecological information, and biological sampling of catch

Monitoring control and surveillance (MCS): including assessments of fishing and / or transhipment activities to ensure fisheries management measures are followed. Observer duties include verification of logbooks with fishing and / or transhipment activities and registering compliance with all regulations.

Fisheries: including the objectives found in both scientific and MCS observer programmes. Observer duties also include the observer duties found in both scientific and MCS observer programmes.

The integrity of a fisheries observer programme is a function of the conduct, morale, and performance of its employees. Moreover, the stature and stability of a programme has direct bearing on the quality of its data products and on the level of confidence that scientists, managers, and policy makers are able to ascribe to the use of this data.

Note: Fisheries inspection programmes, conducted by officials with enforcement powers are not to be considered observer programmes. Though observers may be tasked to register compliance with fisheries regulations, it must be noted that observers do not have enforcement powers and are not to be considered enforcement agents.

In the United States, the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration oversees the Domestic Observer program. Most of the training takes place at the Sand Point Way NOAA facility in Seattle, WA.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fisheries_observer