Wednesday May 6, 2026
NOAA —
A new system combines decades of fisheries data and statistics to visualize West Coast fisheries and how they have changed over time.
The Pacific Fishing Effort Mapping Project was led by researchers at NOAA, state wildlife departments, and the Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission. It consolidates location and catch data from fishing vessels with landings and economic figures into revealing maps and charts of major West Coast fisheries. It then shows how they may be affected by other ocean uses. For instance, the new system turns data on the catch value of groundfish into a landscape of colors depicting the West Coast, where the highest value catch areas stand out boldly.
“By combining all this data into one place to visualize it all together, we can begin to see patterns, tradeoffs and comparisons that we might not notice otherwise,” said Lisa Pfeiffer, a research economist at the Northwest Fisheries Science Center who helped lead development of the system. Funded by NOAA and the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, it is designed to inform marine planning and compare different uses of the ocean and their implications for fisheries.
The system can help inform progress on NOAA Fisheries’ National Seafood Strategy and in support of the Executive Order on Restoring American Seafood Competitiveness.