A COAR user guide can be viewed and/or downloaded here: HTML5 COAR User Guide.pdf

The first buyer of raw fish, persons who catch and process fish, and persons who catch and have fish processed by another business are required to file an annual report of their purchasing and processing activities. This report is called the Commercial Operator's Annual Report (COAR) and is due by April 1 of the following year. The National Marine Fisheries Service also requires COAR reports from processing vessels operating in federal waters of the Exclusive Economic Zone.

The COAR requires submission of information on seafood purchasing, production, and both ex-vessel and wholesale values of seafood products. The buying information from COAR is reported by species, area of purchase, condition of fisheries resources at the time of purchase, type of gear used in the harvest, pounds purchased, and ex-vessel value. The ex-vessel value in COAR includes any post-season adjustments or bonuses paid after the fish was purchased. The production information from COAR is reported by species, area of processing, process type (frozen, canned, smoked, etc.), product type (fillets, surimi, sections, etc.), net weight of the processed product, and the first wholesale value.

The COAR reporting process has been incorporated into the eLandings System to provide more efficient and more accurate reporting. As fish tickets are required for the first purchase of seafood product, a summary of all purchases can be generated from the eLandings System for those processors using this system, fully and even partially. The summary is available for each unique operation, that is, each unique entity with a Fisheries Business license.

The eLandings COAR reporting process allows industry to extract all buying activity, including custom processing performed for you as the owner of the product, by COAR areas of purchase. Once this information has been generated within the eLandings System, the designated seafood industry staff person shall add any non-eLandings fish ticket purchase information, ex-vessel pricing, and production information. The only production information generated from eLandings is from production reports, so only federally managed fisheries that required daily production reports are available to populate the production data. State managed fisheries, like salmon have no production data in eLandings. Post-season price adjustments can be added, when available. The COAR is now submitted electronically.

The eLandings COAR has not changed significantly in the new eLandings HTML5 Processor Web. Progression through each COAR file status from "Not Generated" to "Submitted" are similar, with most of the steps moved to the hamburger menu of the COAR report page. Previous updates to the COAR file generation included collecting the Port code of delivery obtained from the eLandings Operation account. We also clarified the Area of Purchase, which is now defined as the area of harvest. Fish tickets document the area of harvest. When the eLandings System generates the buying section of the COAR, the area of harvest is based on reported statistical areas. The COAR area of processing is based on the processing plant port. For the At-Sea Fleet, the area of processing is based upon the area of harvest, the statistical areas when the product was caught.

Using the eLandings System to report, the COAR will automatically summarize the buying information based upon the statistical area of harvest and then assign the information to the appropriate COAR area. The buying information is based on the itemized catch data on landing reports, for all species except halibut and sablefish. Halibut and sablefish buying weights and conditions are generated from the grading and pricing weights on landing reports. This allows for landing sablefish as whole fish, and documenting it as such on the itemized catch lines of the landing report, and buying the sablefish as eastern or western cut dressed fish, which is documented on the grading and pricing lines for the itemized catch.

We have developed translation tables – statistical areas to COAR areas and Port codes to COAR areas. They are available online, as a part of the eLandings system -

The eLandings System will generate a spreadsheet summarizing all buying activity for each unique Proc Code. You will need to review this information and add price and production information, as this is not available from the eLandings System. The eLandings generated buying summary includes all fish ticket items that are identified as SOLD. This includes all seafood products sold for human consumption, bait, fish meal, as well as sold overage, seized, or tagged seafood. The summary also includes all seafood products that the operation purchased but was custom processed by another seafood operation, that is, another processing facility, and lists the seafood companies that you performed custom processing for during the calendar year.

Once the buying portion of the COAR has been generated, you will receive notification via email that a spreadsheet containing this information is available. The eLandings System currently has not been expanded to include non-crab shellfish and herring. It is easy to add the additional shellfish and herring buying to the COAR spreadsheet.

The summary does not include is seafood product retained for personal use or bait, discarded catch, and other disposition that were not sold.

To summarize the basic concepts of eLandings COAR –

Processing facilities using the eLandings system can complete the COAR within eLandings.
Additional accounts may need to be established for employees competing the COAR and these accounts are authorized by the ADF&G Seafood Industry Coordinator.
The COAR requests summarized buying and production information.
Using the eLandings System, the buying information is summarized using sold fish ticket data.
The ADF&G statistical area of harvest is used to assign the data to COAR area purchased.
The COAR area of purchase is now considered the COAR Area of Harvest.
The port code of the processing facility is now considered the COAR area of Processing.
The COAR area of processing for the At-Sea fleet is the area of harvest, which is based on statistical area(s).
Sold harvest from conventional fish tickets, that’s non-eLandings tickets, will not be included in the summary, but should be added to the spreadsheet.
Price and value information are added and all information reviewed for accuracy.
Production information and custom processing for other processors is added to the spreadsheet.
When the COAR is complete the Excel file is uploaded into the eLandings System.
The data is validated and a Certification page is generated, ready for printing and submission.
The COAR is extracted to the enCOAR database by ADF&G staff.
When final price information is available, the COAR report can be extracted again to add post-season settlement prices.

The COAR Reporting process is documented by Chapters, in downloadable video, available below. Videos can be viewed online

You can also contact the Seafood Industry Coordinator with questions about the COAR reporting process at 907-465-6131.

A downloadable reference sheet for the COAR Reporting Process is available here.

COAR Report statuses are defined on the COAR Report Status Definitions page.

Introduction to COAR video: Download COAR Introduction Video.wmv

PDF Download Link: Commercial Operator's Annual Report - COAR - User Documentation and Guide

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If you have any questions or concerns, please contact elandings@alaska.gov

coar_codes.pdf

Introduction to COAR video: Download COAR Introduction Video.wmv

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