PacFIN Brief for 2006

[Complete 2006 PSMFC Annual Report (10.5 MB pdf)]

The Pacific Fisheries Information Network (PacFIN) is the nation's first regional fisheries data network. Funded by a grant from the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), PacFIN is a joint federal and state project focused on fisheries data collection and information management. PacFIN provides timely and accurate data to aid effective management of fisheries and fishery resources.

In 2006, the PacFIN Office processed 262 data feeds from eight data sources and responded to 143 requests-for-information. There were 612,414 visits to the PacFIN website for an average of 51,035 visits per month. This is an increase in visits compared to 41,828 visits per month in 2005 and 17,021 per month in 2004. Various selections of standard PacFIN reports were generated weekly or monthly and uploaded to the PSMFC and PacFIN web pages.

The Quota Species Monitoring (QSM) subsystem was expanded by incorporating catch estimates for the area “Oregon Coast (OC)” for all species reported by WDFW. Catch estimates for species LSPN and SSPN were broken into separate line items for areas VN CL EK MT and CP.

The At-sea data included within the QSM subsystem uses summarized and speciated data developed by the refresh_npac4900 program. This program was modified to use the newly established npac_current_haul and npac_current_spcomp Oracle views which are part of the NORPAC database/information system.

The redevelopment of the QSM subsystem within the Oracle software environment, rewriting the application code in PL/SQL and redesigning and adding some QSM-internal data structures was completed.

A program was developed to produce datafeeds for the WOC At-sea fishery, using direct retrievals from the NORPAC database. This AFSC data feed containing monthly aggregates, had been produced for many years by the NWR and then submitted to the PacFIN system during the At-sea fishing season. The new program produces the standard PacFIN aggregated-catch (AGC) transactions, allowing the PacFIN office to upload the data on a more frequent basis, while eliminating this as a NWR task.

A program was developed to identify both LE and OA vessels that participate in the daily trip limit (DTL) fishery.

A "city_cnty" table was added to central DB to enable retrievals of WOC permit counts by city and county.

An extensive re-working of the high level report for the annual North Pacific Anadromous Fish Commission Meeting was completed.

A program was developed for the PFMC's Salmon Technical Team to produce daily salmon catch and effort by vessel (using fictitious vessel-id's) and port group which was used during the analysis leading up to the OR-CA salmon closure.

The project to convert remaining ‘C’ programs to Oracle continued, with the completion of software for the QSM subsystem, extact_sc retrieval program, bld_actual_prices program and the vessel summary (bld_vsums) program. Performance of the extract_sc program was improved as part of this conversion effort. The last remaining ‘C’ programs are the suite of report generation programs: rpt_source, rpt_area, rpt_port, rpt_gear, rpt_period, and rpt_species. An analysis and design for accomplishing the conversion of this subsystem was completed. The report definition data model and an operational prototype for the area and gear report functions were completed.

The search method within program ftl_estimate_prices was modified to alternate the search month forward and backward for a total of 24 months.

An analysis to determine how to identify CDFG category 211 (pure dover sole) for years 1981 - 2002 versus the same 211 (nominal dover sole) category for 2003 - present was conducted, resulting in a proposal to CDFG.

The subsystem for adding and modifying entries for species codes in the SP table was enhanced, including the addition of automatic validations via Oracle trigger functions to ensure that associated tables have been updated appropriately.

SWFSC staff requested that a primary key be implemented for the SV table. This request was researched along with a review of the Oracle Snapshot feature. The primary key for the SV table was implemented and the SWFSC has commenced with weekly downloads of the fish-ticket data to the SWFSC's Unix/Oracle system using Snapshot.

Data elements disp (disposition) and removal_type were added to table VDRFD at the request of NWFSC staff.

At the request of the NMFS/ST1 group the PacFIN office researched why summations of kelp seaweed catch data for WA-OR-CA available from NMFS's website are consistently greater than comparable statistics displayed on the PacFIN website. It was determined that landings of kelp seaweed are not part of the fish-ticket data provide by CDFG to PacFIN, but landings (pounds and revenue) for kelp seaweed are included in the NMFS/ST1 data base. At the November PCFDC meeting it was agreed that a description of this phenomenon be posted on the PacFIN website.

Software and database structures were developed that allows loading of all historical CDFG species composition (SCM) data to an Oracle table. This project is in a prototype status pending further direction/requests from the GMT.

Web access retrieval functions available on a protected site were expanded to include four fish-ticket and one BDS retrieval programs.

Software to produce code lists for FTL data elements: assignment, product_use, product_form, and removal_type was developed and these code lists were added to the public access portion of the PacFIN website.

ODFW requested and addition of "vertebral centra" to the list of ageing structure types in the PacFIN database. The project included establishing a new code list table for age structure types and updating database column bds.age_struct.

A special fictitious vessel-id process was developed in order to allow NWFSC staff to share certain data with an NMFS consultant. This included software and data table development.

During this period, collaboration with the NMFS/AFSC/OFIS systems group produced new types of access methods for PacFIN data providers that resolved long standing issues that have in the past prevented access to AFSC host servers intermittently. A similar effort is currently underway to improve connectivity for all PacFIN users that connect to OFIS servers.

The de-facto Pacific Coast Fisheries Data Committee (PCFDC) Access to Confidential Data policy was agreed to by all parties in January 2006.

The program manager met with other PSFMC staff to discuss the potential for moving the PacFIN system to a PSMFC server.

Other operational changes included the migration of staff email accounts to the PSMFC HQ Exchange server and a move to the Microsoft Outlook mail client. FTP software was purchased and installed on the PacFIN computers to aid in data transfers. NOAA/AFSC mandated desktop security requirements were implemented in order to remain in compliance with their federal rules and standards.