West Coast Groundfish Trawl Logbook

The success of fisheries management programs depends significantly on the availability of fishery data. Currently, the states of Washington, Oregon, and California administer a trawl logbook on behalf of the Pacific Fishery Management Council (Council) and NMFS. The log used is a standard format developed by the Council to collect information necessary to effectively manage the fishery on a coast-wide basis. The trawl logbook collects haul-level effort data including tow time, tow location, depth of catch, net type, target strategy, and estimated pounds of fish retained per tow. Each trawl log represents a single fishing trip. The state of California repealed their requirement, effective April 1, 2019, therefore, NMFS must create a federal requirement in order to not lose logbook coverage from trawl vessels in California. This federal requirement duplicates the logbook structure and process that the state of California was using in order to minimize disruption or confusion for fishery participants. Under this rule, NMFS will contract with the Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission (PSMFC) to distribute and collect the same logbook these fishermen have been using previously. These data are used regularly by NMFS, the Pacific Fishery Management Council, the West Coast Groundfish Observer Program, NMFS Office of Law Enforcement, and the Coast Guard for fisheries management and enforcement.

The latest form for West Coast Groundfish Trawl Logbook expires 2022-07-31 and can be found here.