Fishery observer

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 program, either directly by a government agency or by a third party contractor. Observers spend anywhere from 1 day to 3 months out at sea before returning to be “debriefed”. A debriefing consists of reviewing any unusual occurrences or observations, violations observed, and any safety problems or other hardships they endured during the trip. These data are then integrated into the regional agency’s database used to monitor fish quotas.

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. Independent data collection in this context refers to data that is not potentially biased by the fishermen. Creel surveys, trip reports, and other data obtained directly from fishermen can have some dependent bias associated with it. 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.

The integrity of a fisheries observer program is a function of the conduct, morale, and performance of its employees. Moreover, the stature and stability of a program 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.

A fisheries observer program 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. Generally, fisheries observers are required to have an educational background in the biological sciences and a proven ability to handle life at sea. Specific programs have additional or less requirements. Also required is an independent attitude, an ability to get along with people in tight quarters and strong personal integrity. "Hang Loose" and "Stand By" are the general mottos for observers because conditions, boats and circumstances often change at the last minute.

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

The International Fisheries Observer and Monitoring Conference develops, promotes and enhances effective fishery monitoring programs to ensure sustainable resource management throughout the world’s oceans. Their mission is to improve fishery monitoring and observing programs worldwide through sharing practices and development of data collection and analysis. Since many observing entities are contracted, this conference allows dialog between agencies and between those that rely upon the data collected by observers.

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