Army Corps of Engineers: Commercial Fishing Data Could Help Inform Budget Process

What GAO Found

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Waterborne Commerce Statistics Center (Center) collects data on waterborne commerce, or the transport of commercial goods over waterways. The Corps uses waterborne commerce data to inform how it prioritizes funding for navigation projects. This helps ensure that federal harbors and channels remain navigable for vessels bringing goods to U.S. ports. For cargo transported between ports—which includes a wide variety of goods and reflects the many sectors of the nation’s economy—the Center collects data on tons of cargo, or tonnage, from vessel operators, other agencies, and a third-party vendor.

For fish caught offshore and brought to port for sale, known as commercial fish landings, the Center collects data on pounds of fish landed from a database maintained by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS).

Ports of Houston, Texas and Dutch Harbor, Alaska

According to the Corps’ budget guidance, while not the only factor that it considers, tonnage is the primary factor that the agency uses to prioritize funding for navigation projects. The Center, however, does not incorporate commercial fish landings data into tonnage, and the Corps does not otherwise use the landings data to inform budget decision-making for navigation projects. While Corps officials said that landings totals are likely small compared to the overall amount of cargo, the agency has not assessed the potential impact of incorporating landings data into tonnage. As a result, the Corps does not know if including landings data could impact the prioritization of navigation projects, particularly in states with significant commercial fishing activity. By assessing whether the Center should incorporate landings into tonnage, the Corps would be better able to substantiate its navigation budget decision-making.

Why GAO Did This Study

The Water Resources Development Act of 2022 includes a provision for GAO to conduct a review of the Center’s collection and reporting of waterborne commerce data, including data on commercial fishery landings and aquaculture harvest. This report provides information on the Center’s collection and use of these data.

To inform this work, GAO reviewed and analyzed laws, regulations, policies, and guidance relevant to the Center’s collection of waterborne commerce data, and documents related to the Corps’ use of waterborne commerce data in its budget decision-making. GAO also met with Corps officials to understand the agency’s collection and use of waterborne commerce data, and reviewed data in the Corps’ Waterborne Commerce of the United States Calendar Year 2022. To better understand the commercial fish landings data collected by the Center, GAO met with officials from NMFS, and reviewed data available for fiscal year 2022 through the agency’s Fisheries One Stop Shop database.