The ACCSP Launches its Online Data Management System

WASHINGTON-The Atlantic Coastal Cooperative Statistics Program (ACCSP), a state and federal partnership for Atlantic coastal fisheries data collection and data management, is announcing the launch of its online data management system at Swissotel Washington, The Watergate at 6 p.m. Feb. 19, 2002, bringing data used by resource managers to the public.

"To our knowledge, this is the first instance of a cooperative state and federal partnership that has produced a database used by resource managers that is also available to the public online," said David Cupka, Chair of the ACCSP Coordinating Council, "We expect this system to be a tremendous asset to the fishing industry, anglers' groups, the environmental community and academia."

This free resource is accessible through the Program's Web site at http://www.accsp.org/. Users who request an account will have their username and password e-mailed to them within two business days. Downloadable reference materials are available on the site, and during business hours, the ACCSP data management staff will be available to users via the Program's toll-free technical support line.

The 23 partners of the ACCSP use standardized data elements for inshore and offshore catch and effort data. Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and Maryland electronically feed commercial data directly to the database. The National Marine Fisheries Service (NOAA Fisheries) feeds its own offshore data to the ACCSP database, along with the inshore data of South Carolina and all Atlantic states from Virginia north. The ACCSP gets recreational catch and effort data from NOAA Fisheries' Marine Recreational Fisheries Statistics Survey (MRFSS).

About the ACCSP
The ACCSP's partners are the 15 Atlantic states' natural resource management agencies, the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, the three Atlantic fishery management councils, the District of Columbia Fisheries and Wildlife Division, the Potomac River Fisheries Commission, NOAA Fisheries and the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. Together these resource managers have developed a plan to cooperatively collect, manage and disseminate fishery statistical data for the Atlantic coast, and to support the development and operation of a national program.

Contacts:
Abbey Compton, Outreach Coordinator
abbey.compton@accsp.org
202.289.6400

Mike Cahall, Information Systems Program Manager
mike.cahall@accsp.org
202.289.6400