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and accurate. To achieve this, vessels in offshore fisheries should be 

 identified by a number which stays with the vessel even if name or owner- 

 ship changes. The Coast Guard vessel documentation number is a logical 

 choice for vessel identification. 



The minimum data which should be a part of this vessel inventory are: 



— documentation number 



— fishery in which vessel is engaged (see Tables 1, 2 and 3) 



— length 



— gross tonnage 



— horsepower 



— construction (wood or steel) 



— name and address of owner 



— home port (particularly important if the skipper is not the owner) 



— navigational equipment 



— sonar devices 



— year of construction 



— refrigeration system 



While a current vessel inventory is feasible and imperative for the 

 offshore fisheries, such an inventory for the inshore fisheries is more 

 difficult. The large number of vessels and small size of many individual 

 operations would make a vessel inventory an expensive proposition. Survey 

 samples can be drawn from a list of license holders instead of a vessel 

 inventory list. 



It should be noted that the "inshore"/"offshore" dichotomy can be 

 defined in different ways. Many of the larger "offshore" vessels also fish 

 inshore at least part of the year. The best criterion for classification is 

 probably vessel length. Certain fisheries will be characterized by small 

 vessels almost exclusively and can be considered inshore fisheries. A good 

 example would be the New England lobster fishery. With the exception of 

 Rhode Island landings, the lobster landings of New England are largely 

 caught in inshore waters by boats not exceeding forty feet in length. 



