Chapter 11: The Inland Waters River Fishery Information System CHAPTER 11: INLAND WATERS RIVER FISHERY INFORMATION SYSTEM 11.1 Background The Inland Waters River fishery is a multi-species, multi-gear fishery encompassing the South Australian sector of the River Murray and its backwaters (Map 11.1). Historically, the fishery was based on harvesting Murray cod (Maccullochella peelii peelii), golden perch (Macquaria ambigua), and bony bream (Nematalosa erebi). The fishery was restructured in July 2003 to a non-native dominate fishery and the commercial fishing for significant native species is now prohibited. The fishery is now based predominantly on the taking European carp (Cyprinus carpio) and redfin perch (Perca fluviatilis). There are a total of 6 licence holders who operate within the fishery. Prior to the restructure 30 license holders fished the river, each with a designated reach. Up to December 2007 SARDI production tables hold in excess of 270,000 daily records. Data is held from 1984/85 to current and is continually being updated. Refer to Figure 11.3 for an entity relationship diagram of the inland waters system that encompasses the River Fishery. South Australian Aquatic Sciences: Information Systems and Database Support Program SARDI Aquatic Sciences Information Systems Quality Assurance and Data Integrity Report (June 2009) 81 Chapter 11: The Inland Waters River Fishery Information System Map 11.1: The inland waters river fishery – River Murray area designations. South Australian Aquatic Sciences: Information Systems and Database Support Program SARDI Aquatic Sciences Information Systems Quality Assurance and Data Integrity Report (June 2009) 82 Chapter 11: The Inland Waters River Fishery Information System 11.2 Research Logbook Information Each licence holder is required to submit a daily fishing return by the 15th day of each month detailing their fishing activities for the previous month (Figure 11.1). Table 11.1 lists the associated fields collected from the logbooks. Figure 11.1: An example of a South Australian inland waters catch and effort return. Table 11.1: An overview of the fields collected from the South Australian inland waters catch and effort return for the inland waters river fishery information system. Field Status Description Licensee Name Compulsory Licence holders name or company. Licence Number Compulsory Commercial Fishing Licence Number (R##). Main Place of Landing or Compulsory The place at which most of the catch was landed during the month. Code Month / Year Compulsory The Month and Year relating to the fishing activity. Fish Dealer/Processor The details of the fish dealers/processors the catch has been sold to. Sold To No of days when gear The total number of days for that month when the gear was set including any was set days the gear was not lifted. If the licence holder knows in advance any consecutive months where they will not fish they can indicate on the form which months these will be. If any Advanced Nil Return fishing activity does take place they must submit a fishing return that will overwrite the advanced nil. Personal Use, Public Check boxes indicating the methods of disposal of the catch. Sale, Bait The day of the month of each days fishing activity, including days when no Day of Month Compulsory fish were landed. The number of individuals fishing on the licence or in a boat owned by the Man Days Compulsory licensee each day. The main area that fishing took place for that day, according to the maps Main Area Compulsory provided in the logbook. The gear code used. A separate row must be completed for each gear used Gear Code Compulsory on the same day. Compulsory if This checkbox is checked and an accompanying Wildlife Interaction Form any wildlife Wildlife Interaction provided if there was any interaction during the fishing activity with any interaction threatened, endangered, or protected species. took place Effort Compulsory The number of effort units used on each fishing day, according to the specific South Australian Aquatic Sciences: Information Systems and Database Support Program SARDI Aquatic Sciences Information Systems Quality Assurance and Data Integrity Report (June 2009) 83 Chapter 11: The Inland Waters River Fishery Information System gear used. The name of the species targeted with each gear on each day. This may Target Species Compulsory change during any fishing trip. Compulsory if any weights Catches by Species The names (or alpha codes) of all species landed (refer to Appendix 4). have been provided The condition each species was landed i.e. whole (W), gutted (G) or headed Landed Conditions and gutted (H). 11.3 Processing, Data Entry Business Rules, and Validation Routines for the Inland Waters River Fishery Information System Data validation processes take various forms. Some of the validation is manual, conducted during the collation and processing phases, but the majority of validation is electronic via look up tables and code driven software activated during data entry and reporting operations. Table 11.2 lists the validation processes Information Systems and Database Support staff utilise to verify the data. Table 11.2: Validation process summary for the inland waters river fishery information system. Process Occurs at: Manual validation processes Collation Processing Entry Exception reporting Data entry validation On line data entry, software generated via look up tables and entry parameters Exception reporting Completion of data entry run random sampling of current and historically entered data Completion of data entry run Scientist comes back with comparison data and queries Report Generation 11.3.1 Manual Processing for the Inland Waters River Fishery Information System Whilst registering the receipt of the forms, Information Systems and Database Support program staff ensure the forms meet the requirements as stipulated in Section 14 of the Fisheries Management (River Fishery) Regulations 2006 by: Determining the licence number and date are valid. If the details are not provided, the missing information is determined by: Using PIIMS to verify the correct licence information; Determining the logbook sequence number; Determining any missing fishing periods from the returns register. The forms are then processed for completeness by: Ensuring all compulsory fields have been provided (refer to Table 11.1). Confirming the number of days fished corresponds to the number of details lines. Ensuring the units of effort recorded correspond to the gear used (see Table 11.4). Ensuring the species taken on a particular gear type is valid. Ensuring the applicable species codes are on the return (Appendix 4). South Australian Aquatic Sciences: Information Systems and Database Support Program SARDI Aquatic Sciences Information Systems Quality Assurance and Data Integrity Report (June 2009) 84 Chapter 11: The Inland Waters River Fishery Information System Confirming the information provided in the footer details is plausible and the totals are correct. Ensuring a species is only reported once with one condition type e.g. a fisher may record the same species in two columns with two different condition types such as whole (W) and either headed and gutted (H+G) or gutted (G). As only one species can be entered the headed and gutted or gutted weights must be converted to whole weight refer to section 11.4. For any nil return the month and year are entered in pencil in the “Advanced Nil Returns” section on the return and the return is entered (Figures 11.3 and 11.4). Ensuring any returns recording any catch and release of silver perch are photocopied and filed in the corresponding silver perch folder. Do not enter any harvest of silver perch. If a fisher has recorded perch but has not identified the species, the species may be classified as silver perch if the animals were released, and there was a small amount caught, usually between 1 and 10. Ensuring a wildlife interaction form has been submitted if the wildlife interaction check box has been ticked or has been indicated in the comments section of the return, if there is no corresponding form this must be followed up immediately and documented in the wildlife interaction correspondence file. If the officer cannot determine the compulsory data or interpret the return the licence holder is initially contacted by telephone, if the licence holder cannot be contacted the return is noted with the date the return was sent back, photocopied, and sent back to the licence holder requesting the missing information. South Australian Aquatic Sciences: Information Systems and Database Support Program SARDI Aquatic Sciences Information Systems Quality Assurance and Data Integrity Report (June 2009) 85 Chapter 11: The Inland Waters River Fishery Information System Figure 11.2: A fisher return showing how the information has been processed and modified in pencil to reflect the activities. Note the officer has included the appropriate species codes. Figure 11.3: A fisher return showing how a nil return is processed. Figure 11.4: A fisher return showing how an advanced nil return is processed. South Australian Aquatic Sciences: Information Systems and Database Support Program SARDI Aquatic Sciences Information Systems Quality Assurance and Data Integrity Report (June 2009) 86 Chapter 11: The Inland Waters River Fishery Information System 11.3.2 Data entry business rules and electronic validation processes for the Inland Waters River Fishery Information System Figure 11.5 is a representation of the data entry screen used to transpose the information provided on the logbook into an electronic format. Figure 11.5: Inland waters information system data entry screen. Table 11.3: Fields, associated validation parameters, and rules for the inland waters river fishery information system. Field Name Functionality and business rules The licence number is validated against a list of valid licence numbers from Licence Number the licence table. The name populated against the licence number should correspond to the Licensee Name name provided on the return – if it doesn’t check PIIMS etc Main Place of Landing or Enter the main port/place of landing.