March 18, 2023 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:
For more than 35 years, Captain Sonny Gwin has fished commercially out of Ocean City, Maryland. He targets lobster and sea bass on the F/V Skilligalee alongside two crew members. Like all captains, he must submit reports on his fishing activity to different reporting entities.
For most of his career, this meant filling out a federal paper logbook, with copies for the state and dealers. He had to submit it by mail, generally on a monthly basis. This also meant stacks and stacks of paper in his shop, some dating back decades. A member of the Mid-Atlantic Fisheries Management Council, Gwin faced the decision in 2018 on whether to support mandatory electronic reporting in the Greater Atlantic region. He voted in favor of the new technologies that would allow data submission from smartphones and tablets.
“You’ve always got your phone and it basically has your information at your fingertips,” says Gwin. While implementing electronic vessel trip reports (eVTRs) has had its challenges, the efforts have led to more timely, higher quality data that better support science and management. They also streamline reporting requirements by enabling submissions to multiple entities through a single app, and give the industry a better sense of where they stand on species quotas.