To give participants an understanding
of how the three components of the aerial-roving-access
creel survey are used and practice with a powerful and flexible
software application (MERCI) for managing this data, so that
fishery technicians are able to take responsibility for the
timely production of weekly species, gear and area specific
catch estimates.
During the course, participants
learned how to:
Calculate catch “by hand,”
knowing how the raw survey data are used
Prepare a MERCI 3.0 database
for data entry prior to the start of a new season
Efficiently enter and update
data using MERCI 3.0
Set appropriate pre-estimation
options in MERCI 3.0
Generate catch estimates
using MERCI 3.0
Generate and view catch
reports InExcel using MERCI 3.0
Interpret and address special
cases when the survey “breaks down”
Work with the software and
database between offices; and
Get further information
on the creel survey.
Participant
course notes (1 mb)
Adobe Acrobat .pdf file of the participant course materials
(*for MERCI 3 system).
Trainers
presentation (1.1 mb)
Power Point presentation used by the course trainer
and a simple example (Excel spreadsheet) of how catch
is estimated (*for MERCI 3 system).
The above training materials
were developed for Department of Fisheries and
Oceans technicians for a 1.5-day course delivered
in Lillooet, British Columbia on May 29th and
30th, 2002.
In association with the MERCI Users
Guide and post-season review documents available on this site,
these training materials provide an effective introduction
to the survey design and software for new technicians and
managers.
Note: while these
documents providse a reasonably "stand alone" edition of the
training course, the participant exercises were necessarily
custom designed in real-time based on the system configuration
and amount of data the participants were able to enter during
the data entry module.
Also, to conduct
the exercises, suitable raw field data forms are needed (not
provided here).
