The AKFIN, PacFIN and RecFIN databases will be unavailable from 6:30 pm until 7:30 pm PDT on Tuesday 4/20/2021 for system maintenance.
Apr 192021
Mar 242021
Americans’ Financial Health Through the Eyes of the U.S Bureau of Economic Analysis
Camille Kohler
The Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) mission is to “promote a better understanding of the U.S. economy by providing the most timely, relevant, and accurate economic accounts data in an objective and cost-effective manner”. Users of the AKFIN and PacFIN databases can now access these rich data sources, compiled by BEA economists, to analyze income and employment statistics to include wage, salary, employment, and compensation by year and county. Four series are updated annually.
Personal Income Summarized
A summary of income received by people from wages, salaries, dividends, and such aggregated by year and county to include:
- Population
- Per capita personal income
- Personal income
Personal Income by Major Component and Industry
Income received by people from wages, salaries, dividends, and such reported by year, county, and industry to include a hierarchical breakdown of:
- Total wages, salaries, and employer contributions
- Earnings and proprietor’s income for farm, non-farm, and private non-farm
- Private, non-farm earnings by industry like wholesale, retail, and services
- Government and government enterprise earnings for local, state, and federal civilian
Total Full-time and Part-time Employment by Industry
Employment statistics reported by year, county, and industry to include a hierarchical breakdown of:
- Total employment
- Employment by component like proprietors, farm, and non-farm
- Private, non-farm employment by industry like forestry, fishing, and related
- Government and government enterprise employment for local, state, and federal civilian
Compensation of Employees by Industry
Compensation statistics reported by year, county, and industry to include a hierarchical breakdown of:
- Total compensation with breakdown by wages and salaries, supplements, and employer contributions
- Compensation by component like proprietors, farm, and non-farm
- Private, non-farm compensation by industry like forestry, fishing, and related
- Government and government enterprise compensation for local, state, and federal civilian
The PacFIN program downloads these sources via the BEA Application Programming Interface (API) and executes a series of processes that stage, consolidate, and standardize the data. It’s delivered through a series of views in both the AKFIN and PacFIN databases that combine like tables to provide a time series for 1969 through 2018 (the latest data available through the API). Throughout this time, the industries have shifted somewhat so PacFIN also provides a value-added field that standardizes these shifting industry variables across the varying versions of the API tables.
In addition to the database views, a series of APEX reports was recently deployed to the PacFIN APEX reporting system to support online filter and download of the BEA data to .csv or Excel. The following are available to authorized PacFIN users under the Economic and Social Sciences header:
- ESS507 – BEA Personal Income
- ESS508 – BEA Compensation
- ESS509 – BEA Income Summary
- ESS510 – BEA Employment
The BEA reports are currently under development for the AKFIN APEX reporting system as well and are expected to be available by May 2021.
For more information about the BEA data and the source API, check out www.bea.gov. To gain access to the PSMFC APEX systems, contact AKFIN or PacFIN staff.
Mar 242021
Good Migrations – HMS Update
Jenny Suter
The 2021 Reporting Cycle
It is that time again! Prior to mid-March each year, HMS analysts and data managers on the West Coast and Pacific Islands are busy reviewing logbook, observer, sampling, and landings data prior to the annual data freeze and reporting cycle. On the West Coast, SWFSC, WCR, PacFIN, and CDFW work jointly to scrutinize and correctly categorize the landings by HMS fishery. Once the data are clean, a snapshot of the data forms the basis for reports to the Pacific Marine Fisheries Council HMS SAFE report, a suite of HMS PacFIN Apex reports, and international data submissions from the U.S. for the Western and Central Pacific Marine Fisheries Commission (WCPFC), Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission (IATTC), International Scientific Committee for Tuna and Tuna-like Species in the North Pacific Ocean (ISC), and for the United States – Canada Albacore Treaty. Similarly, a suite of comprehensives is generated from the logbook and sampling data, which also feeds into the aforementioned international reports and for stock assessments.
Highly Migratory Species Professional Specialty Group
PacFIN is the agreed-on data hub for Highly Migratory Species (HMS) PSG. After the successful automation of the WCPFC annual report in 2020, the PSMFC GIS team created a map of the Pacific HMS fisheries based on these summarized datasets that helps communicate the extent of the individual fisheries and their international management areas. The GIS team also created visualizations of the changes in fisheries overtime. The map already has multiple uses in presentations and regulatory documents. The team is working on creating maps for the harpoon, buoy gear, hook-and-line, and recreational fisheries that occur off of the California coast and for the handline and tropical troll fisheries around the Hawaiian Islands, Guam, Commonwealth of the Mariana Islands, and American Samoa that are challenging to see at this scale.
Dec 162020
PacFIN Annual Meeting – A “Virtual” Success
The 2020 PacFIN Annual Meeting was conducted entirely online for the first time in its 40-year history! The two-day format, held on October 28th and 29th allowed for an expanded participation group outside of the Pacific Coast Fisheries Data Committee (PCFDC) core group to attend sessions selectively. The PacFIN team used a variety of applications to encourage member engagement in the virtual environment, including pre-meeting surveys (Google Forms), a live polling/interactive presentation software (Mentimeter), and a collaborative, digital whiteboard (Google Jamboard). In addition, the moderated chat feature in GoToMeeting allowed participants to queue questions and responses in real-time without interrupting the speakers. The participants had access to all of the meeting documents, including Partner Updates (summaries from each of the member agencies on collaborative work with PacFIN), presentations, and supporting documents via ShareFile.
The agenda was structured around PacFIN workgroups that meet regularly throughout the year. The Data Management workgroup session reported on the status of the Biological Data System (BDS) redevelopment, the state of logbook data in PacFIN including the addition of fixed gear logbook data from the state of Oregon, and enhancements to the HMS logbook database. The PacFIN team also presented newly developed data acquisition methods, including a web API with WDFW, and enhancements to the web-based APEX upload application. The Groundfish workgroup utilized a list of project ideas from the Groundfish Management Team (GMT) survey for clarification and prioritization of development needs to better understand the project priorities for 2021 and what resources will be required for each project. The HMS workgroup kicked off an FIS-funded project to redevelop the SAFE report in the PacFIN APEX Reporting System, including updates to the fishery descriptions in the written report, using the Jamboard to collect ideas from the participants.
Other presentations included:
- Erin Steiner and Niels Leuthold presenting on the federal COVID-19 response and the status of fisheries as affected by the pandemic.
- Future PacFIN product training and planning ideas with distributed sign-up sheets to gage interest.
- Liz Hellmers presenting on the CDFW Commercial Landings Data Improvement Procedure (COLA DIP).
- Theresa Tsou presenting on WDFW Species Composition Sampling development.
- Camille Kohler on PacFIN Communities/Socio-Economic reporting tools.
- Fishery Definitions, including the current state of fishery definitions, the Protected Resources List of Fisheries project and the FIS grant for Identifying Fishing Trips and Defining Fisheries, as presented by Rob Ames, Camille Kohler and Niels Leuthold respectively.
- Enforcement Solutions, including presentations by Yan Jiang on PacFIN APEX Reporting System development, Camille Kohler on the Enforcement Data Management Application (YODA) and Rob Ames on analytical products using the Vessel Monitoring System (VMS).
Jenny Suter, Rob Ames, and Brad Stenberg hosted a post-meeting brainstorming session to advance new strategies for user documentation, using the COMPREHENSIVE_FT User Manual as the model for future redesign of all of the PacFIN Comprehensive User Manuals. A large group of participants stuck around to share ideas (and their favorite documentation-themed memes) on a Jamboard.
Thanks to all who participated to make this virtual event a resounding success!
May 152020
Network updates were applied with minimal disruption to service. Please contact staff if you are experiencing any issues.
Mar 132020
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The Pacific Fisheries Information Network (PacFIN) is a collaboration between member state and federal fishery agencies that supply the information needed to effectively manage fish stocks on the west coast of the United States. The data is stored, processed and disseminated by members of PacFIN staff. The member agencies include the Californian Department of Fish & Wildlife, Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife, Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife, National Marine Fisheries Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission (PSMFC), and Pacific Fisheries Management Council (PFMC). More…