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Trip Interview Program (TIP)

Field biologists in the South Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico locations visit docks and fish houses to conduct interviews with commercial fishers. Information collected consists of catch, effort, and biostatistical data.

Diagram of a pelagic longline

The Fisheries-Dependent Monitoring (FDM) program has nine field biologists involved in the Trip Interview Program (TIP), a cooperative effort with NOAA Fisheries' Southeast Fisheries Science Center. This is a shore-based sampling program, in which field biologists visit docks and fish houses to conduct interviews with commercial fishers. Information collected consists of catch, effort, and biostatistical data, such as length, weight, and biological samples (otoliths, spines, and soft tissue for mercury testing and DNA analysis). Estimates of the age distribution of fish in the population and how the distribution has changed over time is critical information for the assessment of fish populations. One of the benefits of this program is that it validates trip ticket data (catch and effort).

The following tables are a quarterly (October - December 2017) summary of interviews and measured fish:

(Hard parts = otoliths, spines, and biosamples.)

 

 

October

Field Station Interviews Fish Measured Hard Parts
Apalachicola 7 92 90
Cedar Key 4 179 175
Charlotte Harbor 10 244 230
Indian River 26 632 25
Jacksonville 14 389 0
Marathon 9 365 92
Pensacola 6 213 41
St. Pete 20 804 732
Tequesta 26 664 38

November

Field Station Interviews Fish Measured Hard Parts
Apalachicola 5 123 123
Cedar Key 4 247 243
Charlotte Harbor 12 281 258
Indian River 28 338 223
Jacksonville 24 356 98
Marathon 23 1289 133
Pensacola 6 287 209
St. Pete 26 909 886
Tequesta 21 699 77

December

Field Station Interviews Fish Measured Hard Parts
Apalachicola 9 192 190
Cedar Key 5 171 170
Charlotte Harbor 7 198 188
Indian River 31 362 151
Jacksonville 20 360 43
Marathon 24 1052 97
Pensacola 6 185 120
St. Pete 28 826 799
Tequesta 19 530 0
Trip Interview Program Sampler
Trip Interview Program Sampler

The following table is the 2017 annual summary:

(Hard parts= otoliths, spines, and biosamples)

2017 Totals

Field Station Interviews Fish Measured Hard Parts
Apalachicola 95 1778 1747
Cedar Key 53 2781 2722
Charlotte Harbor 68 1559 1412
Indian River 296 4399 835
Jacksonville 233 6937 272
Marathon 217 9350 1040
Pensacola 72 3274 1705
St. Pete 241 8551 8220
Tequesta 270 7042 997
Total (All Field Stations) 1545 45671 18950

Visit Southeast Fisheries Science Center to read more about the TIP program