Fishing Commercial Harvest Reports

Reporting has been required for all other commercial aquatic harvest methods for many years. Monthly reporting requirements for commercial fishing activities goes into effect January 1, 2022. The reported information will be used by AGFC biologists to better understand and defend continued harvest of these natural resources.

The electronic reporting system is accessible at agfc.silvics.net. Paper report forms are also available by contacting the AGFC Fisheries Office at 501-382-3746. Required information for these reports includes: Name and CID number for the harvester; dates, methods, effort, and water body of harvest; and species’ weight and number harvested.

Commercial fishers, roe buyers and turtle harvesters must report their harvest (purchases for roe buyers), or lack therof, each month that they possess a commercial permit on or before the 15th of the following month.

Prior to implementation of revised commercial fishing regulations in 2020 a public comment survey was conducted which included questions about the new reporting requirement for commercial fishers. Most respondents (52%) supported this requirement. The implementation of the reporting regulation was delayed until January 1, 2022 to allow time to develop an electronic database and reporting system.

According to regulations “harvest or lack thereof” must be reported monthly. Each form and the electronic system both have check boxes indicating “Did Not Harvest”, which make it simple to report a lack of effort. This information is need to evaluate the level of effort from month to month and throughout the year.