RESOURCE ECOLOGY & FISHERIES MANAGEMENT (REFM) DIVISION (cont.)

U.S. NORTH PACIFIC GROUNDFISH
OBSERVER PROGRAM:

During the third quarter of 2003, 190 observers were trained, briefed, and equipped for deployment to fishing and processing vessels and shoreside plants in the Gulf of Alaska, Bering Sea, and Aleutian Islands region. They sampled aboard 241 fishing and processing vessels and at 14 shoreside processing plants for a total of 13,271 days. These observers were trained or briefed in two locations. The Alaska Fisheries Science Center (AFSC) Observer Program in Seattle briefed 34 observers with prior experience. The University of Alaska Anchorage Observer Training Center (UAA/OTC) briefed 106 observers, and another 23 first-time observers were trained there. Twenty-seven observers were excused from briefing because they had just completed a cruise successfully and were returning immediately to the field. The third quarter 2003 observer workforce comprised 12% new observers and 88% experienced observers.

The Observer Program conducted a total of 149 debriefings during the third quarter of 2003. Three debriefings were held in both Kodiak and Dutch Harbor, 55 in Anchorage, and 88 were held in Seattle.


Safety Conference

Three Observer Program staff along with one UAA/OTC staff member gave several presentations at the Second International Fishing Industry Safety and Health Conference (IFISH II) in Sitka, Alaska, on 22-24 September 2003. The conference was attended by about 130 people from more than 20 different countries.

The fishing industry is recognized as one of the most dangerous professions in the United States. Yet in nearly 500,000 sea days logged by observers from the North Pacific Groundfish Observer Program from 1986 to the present, there has been only one observer death. This exemplary safety record is due in large measure to the safety preparation afforded to observers in training and annual briefings. The Observer Program and UAA/OTC staff gave several presentations at IFISH II which highlighted various aspects of the Observer Program’s safety training including

• An evaluation of the Observer Program’s proactive safety training approach using brainstorming sessions with observers and staff
  
• An explanation of the development process for making safety training videos and their use as an important supplement in the Observer Program’s safety training curriculum
  
• A description of the incorporation of a safety training module called, “The Psychology of Survival” into the Observer Program’s safety training, which helps to develop the all important “will to survive” in observers.
   

Observer Sampling Manual and At-sea Data Messaging System

Significant changes are being made to both the observer sampling manual and the observer at-sea data messaging system (ATLAS system) in preparation for full implementation in 2004. The ATLAS system will be updated to capture new data types, and changes will also be made to create better efficiency and ease of use. The 500-page observer manual will receive new formatting and graphics, new content, and will be easier to use. The observer manual has been in existence since the mid-1970s and has been used as a model for newly developed observer programs around the United States and the world. It can be viewed on the AFSC web site at: http://www.afsc.noaa.gov/refm/observers/Document.htm

By Bob Maier.

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AFSC Quarterly
Research Reports
July-Sept 2003