Name: All VMS Vessels 2015 - 2019 Normalized Average by Fishery
Display Field:
Type: Raster Layer
Geometry Type: null
Description: Fishery: All<br/>
Time Period: 2015-2019<br/>
Filtered for Confidentiality: <em>variable by fishery</em><br/>
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This dataset broadly characterizes the density of commercial fishing vessel activity from January 2015 through December 2019 for all vessels in the northeastern U.S. that are required by NOAA Fisheries to carry a Vessel Monitoring Systems (VMS). The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) describes VMS as a satellite surveillance system primarily used to monitor the location and movement of commercial fishing vessels in the U.S. This dataset does not distinguish between areas of fishing activity versus transit. Therefore, ports show up as high-density regions, despite little to no fishing activity at those locations. <br/>
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Raw VMS data from NMFS were processed into geospatial point products and analyzed to create density grids for each of 10 individual fisheries (Herring, Highly Migratory Species, Monkfish, Multispecies, Ocean Quahog, Surfclam, Maine Mahogany Quahog, Scallop, Squid/Mackerel/Butterfish, and Declared out of Fishery). The point data were filtered, for each individual fishery, to remove vessel positions which did not meet the "Rule of Three" criteria required by NMFS due to data confidentiality. More information on the Rule of Three is available within the metadata. The density grid for each fishery was then classified into a common, qualitative five levels of activity. Each level was assigned a weight and then all 10 fisheries were averaged and reclassified to show a qualitative summary of the normalized average activity between all fisheries. Data values are standardized and are best interpreted qualitatively. An absence of data does not indicate an absence of fishing activity.
Definition Expression: N/A
Copyright Text: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) Vessel Monitoring Systems (VMS), RPS