This video is for instructional purposes only. Please consult all local, state and federal regulations to ensure you are properly permitted to conduct fishing activities. This tutorial video will demonstrate configuring favorites in the eTRIPS online application. When entering trip-level reports for the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries, favorites are default settings and must be submitted prior entering a report.
For this tutorial, our example will be for a rod and reel fisherman departing from Ipswich, fishing for striped bass in waters off Cape Ann, but this example will be generally applicable to other means of harvesting and related variables, so please substitute data relevant to your methods of harvesting. As always, please contact us with any questions about your favorites set up by calling the Division of Marine Fisheries Statistics department at 978-491-6279
This is the main eTRIPS online screen as it loads in the chrome browser on a computer. You are able to access this on a tablet or your phone but it’s a bulky website which is not optimized for use on devices, so we suggest using the eTRIPS Mobile 2 application if you’re accessing phones, tablet or other devices. Also please note eTRIPS is incompatible with Safari, the default Apple/Mac browser so if you are on a Mac, use Chrome, Firefox or another browser.
If the expanded navigation menu is not initially available, go ahead and select the hamburger menu icon - this is the small box made up of 4 horizontal lines in the top left-hand corner of the screen. The hamburger menu icon will collapse and expand the navigation menu when you select it. About halfway down the navigation menu is where you will find the menu option for favorites. Select favorites from the navigation menu.
This brings up the favorites page. Verify the license you’re configuring favorites for by selecting the please select license field. If you have only one license as we do on this account, that license should appear in the field, but you can select that field to choose between your licenses if you have more than one, as favorites are specific to license. This license number 99998. It’s a departmental account we use for testing at the Division of Marine Fisheries.
There are a few different categories of favorites to configure here. Let's begin with setting up our favorite trip headers for commercial trips.
Select the plus add trip favorite button which will load a new blank line for a favorite trip header.
The first field I need to fill out is port state. I’ll select the port state field and then I'm going to select the search filter button to the right of that field that brings up a search window. I'm going to type mass for Massachusetts in the search field and then select the search button denoted by the magnifying glass, and Massachusetts loads in the search window and I’m going to select the search result of Massachusetts. That populates that field.
Next, to the right of the port state field is the end port field. The placeholder text in this field says select port (state must be selected first). Select the end port field and then select the drop-down menu on the right side of the field denoted by the down arrow, and then Ipswich is my end port so I will scroll through the list to locate Ipswich (Ipswich center) from the options presented and I’ll select that option.
Next, to the right of the end port field is the vessel field. Select the vessel field and select the drop-down menu via the down arrow to the right of the field which loads a search menu with an active search field. Enter your vessel registration or coast guard doc number in the search field. My state vessel registration for this example is our test vessel MS9999, so I’ll type that in and I’ll select the search button denoted by the magnifying glass and I'll select my vessel from the now refined list of search results. That comes up as unknown MS9999. Choose your vessel from this list that the search criteria you entered generated. And if you can’t locate your vessel, give us a call and we can help. Also, please note from shore no vessel is an option if you are fishing from shore.
The field to the right of vessel is trip attributes, and there are no applicable trip attributes to configure here so I will skip to the field to the right of trip attributes, the default trip header field. The placeholder text in this field says click to set default favorite. Select that field and select the dropdown menu field and select y for yes. This designates that I want all of my trips to populate with these options I have just configured here. No more having to find your port and vessel every time you enter a trip those fields will pre-populate with each new trip you enter. At this point I will save this data by selecting the save trip favorite button on the far-right side of the favorite trip headers for commercial trips section.
The next section below favorite trip headers for commercial trips is favorite efforts for commercial trips. Let’s select the add effort favorite button to generate a new line for an effort favorite.
The first field to configure is distance. The placeholder text in that field says select waters fished. I’ll select that field and then select the down arrow to the right of the field to load the drop-down menu and choose state waters inshore from the options presented.
To the right of the distance field is the state field. The placeholder text in that field says select state (distance must be selected first). I'll select the state field, and then select the down arrow to the right of the field to load the drop-down menu and choose Massachusetts from the list of state options.
Next up and to the right of the state field, is the local area field. The placeholder text in this field says select local area. Select the local area field, and then select the down arrow to the right of the field to load the drop-down menu and choose either your statistical reporting or shellfish classification area. For my striped bass catch in question, I'm going to choose statistical reporting area 2, listed as MA 2 MA state waters Cape Ann. If you have any questions about what to select don’t hesitate to call us.
Next, to the right of the local area field is the fishing time field. This is where you can enter the number of hours you were actively fishing. If you have a set time for most trips, it may behoove you to enter that here. If your fishing times vary, you may want to leave this field blank. For this, let’s say I usually have my line in the water for about 6 hours for each trip. I will select the fishing time field and enter the number 6 and that will prepopulate on each trip. You can always change this during actual trip entry if your fishing time differs on some trips.
Next, to the right of the fishing time field is the hours/days field. Since my fishing time will be gauged in hours rather than days, I’ll select the hours/days field, then select the down arrow to the right of the field to load the drop-down menu and select hours.
Next, to the right of the hours/days field is the gear field where we can define what gear we used. For this example, our gear is hook and Line so I'm going to select the Gear field and then select the search filter button on the right-hand side of gear field. This loads a search window with my cursor active in the search field, so I’m going to type hook in that field and then select the search button denoted by the magnifying glass and I'll select hook and line the only option that is presented due to the search criteria I entered.
The field to the right of gear is effort attributes and that is blank for now, but we’ll come back to that. Let’s go to the field to the right of effort attributes, the default effort field. Select that field and select the arrow to the right of the field to load the dropdown menu and select y for yes. I'm going to set this effort favorite as my default meaning that I want all efforts will be populated with these options I've just selected. Once I’ve set this as my default effort, the effort attributes field to the left of Default Effort now populates with a new hyperlink that says edit effort attributes.
Let’s select the effort attributes field and then select the edit effort Attributes hyperlink. This loads a window where we can further configure settings related to our gear selection. Since my gear is Hook and Line, I have two additional fields I can configure to further streamline my data entry. Those fields are gear quantity: average number of hooks per line and depth: bottom depth in fathoms. Let’s select the blank field to the right of gear quantity and enter 1 for the single hook on my line. You may see different attributes depending on the gear you fished refer to the definitions adjacent to the field and enter the most common value for your trips, or you can leave them blank and populate them when you’re entering a trip. Next, I’m going to select the blank field to the right of depth: bottom depth in fathoms, and I'm going to say I fished at about 20 fathoms so I will enter a 2 and a 0 in there and then select save attribute, the button in the upper right-hand corner of this window. I get a confirmation pop up message of attribute saved and now I need to close out by selecting the x in the upper right-hand corner of this attributes window. And then save your selections by selecting the save effort favorite button.
The next section below favorite efforts for commercial trips is favorite species (catches) for commercial trips I'm going to select the +add species favorite button which generates a new line for a favorite species.
The first field to configure is the species field. Select the species field and then select the search filter button to the right-hand side of that field. I’m going to type striped and then select the search button denoted by the magnifying glass and I will select bass, striped the only option that is presented due to the search criteria I’ve entered here.
To the right of the species field is the unit measure field. The placeholder text in this field says select unit of measure (species must be selected first. Select the unit measure field and then select the down arrow to the right of the field to load the drop-down menu and choose pounds.
To the right of the unit measure field is the market field. The placeholder text in this field says Select market (species and unit of measure must be selected first). Select the market field and then select the down arrow to the right of the field to load the drop-down menu and choose unclassified from the list of options presented.
Next, to the right of the market field is the disposition field. The placeholder text in this field says select disposition. Select the disposition field and then select the down arrow to the right of the field to load the drop-down menu and choose general utilization: food as this catch will be sold as food.
Next, to the right of the disposition field is the grade field. The placeholder text in this field says select grade (species, unit of measure, and market must be selected first).” Select the grade field and then select the down arrow to the right of the field to load the drop-down menu and choose round from the options available.
Next, to the right of the grade field is the sales disposition field. Select the sales disposition field and then select the down arrow to the right of the field to load the drop-down menu and choose sold to dealer from the available options as this catch will be sold to a dealer.
Next, to the right of the sales disposition field is the catch source field. Select the catch source field and then select the down arrow to the right of the field to load the drop-down menu and choose standard from the options available.
Next to the right of the catch source field is the default catch/species field. The placeholder text in this field says click to set default favorite. Let’s go ahead and select the default catch species field, and then select the drop-down menu in that field and choose y for yes. I’ll do this since striped bass is my most commonly landed species. I’ll set this as my default species, and this will then populate my catch pages with this line of data I’ve just configured for every trip that I enter. I can now select the save species favorite button to save this data. I’m going to skip past the last field to the right-hand side there- the edit species attributes field but I'm going to come back to that in a just a moment once I configure my dealer favorites.
At the bottom left of the favorites page is the favorite dealers section. I'm going to select the add dealer favorite button that will add a new line to set a favorite dealer that I’m likely to work with. Select that empty dealer field and that brings up a search menu with an active search field and I'm going to search for our test dealer. In this case I’m using our fictional dealer that we use for testing I will type ACCSP and I’ll select the search button there denoted by the magnifying glass and there's the dealer I'm looking for – it’s ACCSP 123 TEST. I’ll select that option and then choose the save dealer favorite button. You’ll receive a changes saved confirmation pop up at that stage in the process.
I’ll dismiss that confirmation message of changes saved by selecting the x in the pop-up window to close it. Now that I've set a favorite dealer I can go back to that striped bass favorite species line I just made and attribute my striped bass catches to my preferred dealer ACCSP. You can do this on a catch-by-catch basis meaning you can attach a different dealer to a different catch. If you sell striped bass to one dealer and lobster to another, you can configure that here on your different species favorites. I'm going to go ahead and select the hyperlink for edit species attributes in the edit species attributes field in the line that I’ve set up for my striped bass catches. I’m going to select the species Attributes Field and then the edit species attributes hyperlink there. This will bring up a favorite attributes window and down at the bottom it says dealer license if sold to dealer and I can select that field’s drop-down menu and choose from the favorite dealers I've set to associate which dealer I want to have designated to this catch and then select the save attributes button in the upper right-hand corner. So I will choose ACCSP and then choose the save attributes button in the upper right-hand corner of this window. I’ll get the pop-up confirmation of attributes saved and then I can close the attributes window by selecting the X in the upper right-hand corner. Finally, I'll select the save species favorite button and my favorites are configured.
Give us all call if you have any issues or questions. We are delighted to help you to streamline your trip entry process in any way that we can. We can be reached during the day Monday through Friday at 978-491-6279. Thank you.