Scientific Observer Program (SOP) in Chile

IFOP, as non profit marine research institute has the mission to provide to the Under Secretariat of Fisheries in Chile, the technical information and scientific basis for the regulation of Chilean Fisheries. For this purpose it has 157 Scientific Observers distributed throughout the Chilean coast. This paper describes the scope of the SOP in Chile, its organization, quantity of personnel involved, electronic data collection system used by Scientific Observers, and the qualifications of scientific observers.