Geoduck Fishery Coordination and Dockside Monitoring Program

Project Overview:
In 1989 the geoduck fishery on the west coast transitioned to an ITQ fishery whereby the total quota was distributed equally among the 55 geoduck license holders. The geoduck fishers, represented by the Underwater Harvesters’ Association, contracted Archipelago to set up and conduct a dockside monitoring system for the 4-6 million pounds of geoduck landed at a variety of ports in BC. The company has been continually contracted since 1989 to provide DMP services for the geoduck fishery. Archipelago is responsible for collecting landing information, fishing information and Geoduck fishery data management, which provides up-to-date landing information for each license and fishery management area. As well, Archipelago coordinates on-grounds monitors, quota block transfers, mapping diver harvest data the paralytic shellfish poisoning sampling to coordinate fishery openings.