Day in the Life of a Fisheries Observer - Post 1

The North Pacific Observer Program plays a vital role in the conservation and management of the Bering Sea, Aleutian Islands, and Gulf of Alaska groundfish and halibut fisheries. The program trains, briefs, debriefs, and oversees over 400 observers annually who collect catch data onboard fishing vessels and at onshore processing plants that is used for in-season management and scientific purposes such as stock assessments and ecosystem studies. The program ensures that the data collected by observers are of the highest quality possible by implementing rigorous quality control and quality assurance processes for the data collected by observers.

The fishery dependent data observers collect are used by the Alaska Regional office for quota monitoring and by NOAA Fisheries scientists for stock assessments, ecosystem investigations, and an array of research investigations. The observer role is vital to sustainable fisheries management.

Meet the Blogger

Bobbie Buzzell

Bobbie Buzzell has been an observer with the North Pacific Observer Program since 2014. During her time with the program, she has been employed by A.I.S., Inc. and has observed on 55 distinct fishing vessels and completed over 414 observer days during her observer career. All her deployments have been with the partial coverage component of the Observer Program; working with the smaller catcher vessels that deploy throughout Southeast Alaskan communities.

View Contact

Where this page came from

This page was imported from NOAA Fisheries. Published by NOAA Fisheries and, as a work of the United States government, in the public domain; pictures credited elsewhere are left out.

Nobody has written it yet — it is the source material at a new address, which is why search engines are asked to skip it and why no one earns from it. It is up for grabs: take it on, and it is yours to rewrite and to earn from.