PTNS_Troubleshooting_Manual_2017.docx

Troubleshooting Manual for NOAA’s Pre-Trip Notification System

Occasionally, a vessel representative will call the PTNS because he or she is experiencing difficulties with the website, has a question on how to handle a specific issue, or has a complaint. The following is a list of typical issues and instructions on how to handle each situation. Each issue is categorized as Urgent, Potentially Urgent, Non-Urgent, and Routine, and a description of what each category represents is listed below. If a situation arises that is not addressed in this manual or Frequently Asked Questions document, please contact the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) on-call staff immediately.

Action Key

· URGENT: Requires immediate contact of NMFS staff. There is an order to follow when attempting to reach the NMFS contact:

· Primary contact: NMFS staff rotates this responsibility. If the primary contact cannot be reached, move on to the secondary contact listed below.

· Secondary contact: Amy Martins at (508)989-5319. If you are unable to reach Amy, try the primary contact again (both numbers) and continue to cycle through the contact numbers every ten minutes, until a NMFS contact answers.

· POTENTIALLY URGENT: Depending on the degree of the situation, particular issues may be urgent and require NMFS assistance following the aforementioned procedure.

· NON-URGENT: Issues that cannot be dealt with by the answering service alone, but that do not require immediate action. Non-Urgent issues should be documented in the twice daily summary report for NMFS attention and follow-up.

· ROUTINE: Standard notifications or questions; operators should be able to handle independently.

Please Note: If a vessel representative insists on speaking with a NMFS staff for any reason, the NMFS contact should be called.

Urgent A vessel is having an emergency at sea If a vessel representative calls and is currently having an at-sea emergency (taking on water, fire, medical issue, etc.), do not contact the NMFS representative. Instead, patch the call directly through to the US Coast Guard 24-Hour Rescue Coordination Center at (617)223-8555.

A personal locator beacon (PLB) is activated These devices, carried by observers, transmit signals directly to the Air Force, US Mission Control Center, or US Coast Guard to communicate emergency situations. In the event that an observer activates their PLB, a representative from the Air Force, US Mission Control Center, or US Coast Guard will call to inform our program that one of our observers may be having an emergency at sea. Calls should be patched directly to K.B. McArdle at (774)392-5308 as primary and to Amy Martins as backup at (508)989-5319, home: (508)758-6960. Keep the caller on the phone and cycle through these numbers until one is reached. If the caller cannot remain on the phone, then obtain the PLB identification number (this identifies the observer involved), as well as the name and contact number of the caller. Continue calling K.B. McArdle and Amy Martins until one is reached, and provide the PLB identification number and caller contact information to the NMFS contact.

An observer pushes the SOS button on the DeLorme InReach and the GEOS emergency system is triggered If it is an emergency, then patch the caller through to Amy Martin’s cell: (508)989-5319, home: (508)758-6960. If Amy is not available, patch the caller through to the NMFS on-call person. GEOS will be calling the direct after-hours PTNS line (321-676-9687) and the number they will be calling from will start with (936) 582-XXXX.

A NMFS Office of Law Enforcement (OLE) or US Coast Guard representative calls regarding an incident or situation If this is an emergency, then patch caller directly to NMFS emergency contact. If it is not an emergency, then document the caller information and nature of the situation in the message ticket for a call back during office hours.

A vessel representative, observer provider, or observer calls because no life raft is available to accommodate the observer Instruct the caller that you will immediately contact the NMFS emergency contact and that they will be getting back to them as soon as possible. Call the NMFS contact immediately with the trip details and situation specifics.

Potentially Urgent A vessel is waiting at the dock for an observer that has not shown up *Please note that a vessel waiting at the dock prepared to take a trip is significant, and thus, response should be timely.

1. Login to the PTNS with the vessel’s permit number.

2. Go to the Pending Trips page and ensure that the status for that departure date is indeed ‘Observer’.

3. If ‘Waiver’ is listed, the vessel may sail without an observer.

4. If the trip status is ‘Observer’, call the NMFS contact immediately. If neither NMFS contact can be reached after 1 attempt each AND the planned sail date/time has arrived or has passed , issue the vessel a verbal waiver by telling them they may sail without the observer. Then continue to call the NMFS contacts until the message can be delivered.

A vessel representative calls with complaints

1. Obtain a short description of the issue and contact information from the caller.*

2. Include information in the summary report as per usual.

*If the caller insists on talking to someone right away, call the NMFS contact and relay the vessel representative’s contact information. Please note that complaints about high levels of observer coverage are not considered urgent.

A vessel representative has not yet heard from an observer, and it is 12 hours or less prior to sail time

1. Check the Pending Trips page in the vessel’s PTNS account.

2. If the trip status is ‘Observer’, tell the caller which provider has the trip by clicking the ‘Details’ link for that trip. Also, tell the caller that you will call the provider to alert them of the issue. If the provider cannot be reached, leave a message with the provider regarding the issue.

3. If the status is ‘Pending’, the captain will have to wait for a provider to either accept or decline the trip. This will happen at least 24 hours prior to the sail time of a trip.

4. If the status is ‘Waiver’, the captain may depart for a day trip (a trip estimated to be 2 days in length or shorter) at any time during that calendar day or for a multiday trip (a trip estimated to be 3 days in length or longer) at any time.

5. Provide the outcome in the summary report.

I receive an error message using the PTNS website indicating that there is a problem with the server or some other system error If at any time, other than Sunday nights from 11:00 PM to 3:00 AM, the server cannot be reached, is down, or is taking too long to respond, call the NMFS contact. Include details on the issue in the summary report (i.e. screenshots of error messages, a copy of the error text, or descriptions of oddities)

* If you encounter website issues not related to the server or system function, call the NMFS contact

Non-Urgent A vessel has a ‘Broken Trip’ Broken trips are multiday trips (those estimated to last 3 days or longer), for which the vessel has returned to port earlier than planned (due to weather, illness, equipment failure, etc.) and for which the vessel wishes to re-sail in under 48 hours.

Vessels are only allowed broken trips if they do not offload catch. If they do not offload any catch, note the details of the situation in the message ticket. The vessel may then re-sail.

Vessels must provide another full 48 hours’ notice for a new trip if they offload any amount of their catch when they come to port for any reason.

I cannot log in using a vessel’s correct permit number

1. If you do not enter a valid permit number or the permit number is not currently in our internal database, the screen will display “Username/PIN does not match.”

2. Verify the permit number with the caller, and try to log in again.

3. If you are using the correct permit number for the vessel, tell the vessel representative that he or she will be contacted by the PTNS coordinator within 24 hours to resolve the situation and that their 48 hours’ advance notification begins from the time of the call to the answering service. Include details on the message ticket.

A vessel representative calls to notify for a trip with less than 48 hours’ advance notice

1. Verify the desired sail time with the caller.

2. Notify the caller that trips must be entered into the system 48 hours or more from call time.

3. Enter the trip for 48 hours from the current time.*

4. If the vessel is selected for coverage (Trip Type field not blank), inform them that they may have to wait to sail until the PTNS sail time if an observer is assigned and cannot get to the vessel earlier. Vessels may request from the observer provider that the observer come earlier, but the providers are not required to accommodate this request.

5. If the vessel receives a waiver for a day trip (2 days or less in estimated length), they may depart at any time during that calendar day.

6. If a vessel receives a waiver for a multiday trip (3 days or more in estimated length), they may depart on that trip at any time.

*If the vessel representative feels that his request is urgent and requests special attention to his or her situation, call the NMFS contact.

Routine A new trip cannot be entered because of an overlapping trip error

1. Attempt to change the trip duration of the existing trip using the ‘Edit’ link (if in Pending Trips)or the ‘Details’ link (if in Completed Trips).

2. If the trip duration is locked out in Pending Trips and cannot be edited, then tell the caller you will notify NMFS and someone will enter the trip, likely within the same day.

3. Make sure to clearly indicate in the message ticket that a trip overlap issue exists and if it was resolved.

Vessel representative wants to leave early on a trip If they are scheduled for a multi-day trip (estimated number of days 3 or more) and they have a trip status of ‘Waiver’ for that trip, then they may leave as soon as the waiver has been issued.

Day trip notifications are applicable to that specific calendar day only, so a vessel with a waiver may sail at an earlier time during that calendar day only.

If the trip still has a status of ‘Pending’, the vessel may not leave early, because the final status has not yet been determined.

I get an error message after submitting a new trip If you receive a time limit error message, check the dates and times for which you are notifying. You may not enter more than one trip per calendar day.

The following messages are approximations of what may be displayed:

A vessel representative is having problems with his or her Vessel Monitoring System (VMS) Refer them to the Office of Law Enforcement VMS Help Desk at 888-219-9228. The vessels can also call Skymate at 1-866-SKYMATE (759-6283), Boatracs at 1-800-262-8722, or Thorium at (240)-492-1944, depending on the system they are using. If he or she does not know the company, refer the representative to his or her sector manager (see Sector Contact list).

A vessel representative calls to notify for a scallop trip Transfer the caller to the Industry-Funded Scallop Vessel Call-In Coordinator (VCIC), who can be reached at (508) 495-2100 during business hours and at (508) 560-3550 afterhours. We cannot take any scallop notifications; they do not use the PTNS and must be called in directly to the scallop VCIC.

A vessel representative is having problems with Fish Tracks This is not an issue directly related to PTNS therefore suggest they discuss the issue with their sector manager.

A vessel representative is not sure if he or she needs to notify for a certain type of trip When in doubt, always enter a trip into the system (with the exception of scallop trips – see “A vessel representative calls to notify for a scallop trip”). Trips can always be removed by the PTNS Coordinator if need be. Note details in the message ticket.

I am not able to reach the login screen of the PTNS Website The PTNS system implements routine maintenance on Sunday nights (11:00 PM - 3:00 AM). During a small portion of this time, operators will not be able to access the online system.

If operators receive calls requiring PTNS access during this time period,

*If the call is a routine notification and has not been entered, be sure to note in the summary report that the trip has not been entered.

I need to check on standard trip details Frequently, callers do not have access to a computer, and some fishermen do not like to use computers. In these cases, they will be calling the PTNS line to check on general information. Some common routine questions are:

1) Do I have an observer or a waiver? The trip status will be displayed on the Pending Trips page if the sail date has not yet passed or if the trip is accepted by an observer provider. If a trip cannot be found on the Pending Trips page, check the Completed Trips page.

2) What type of observer do I have? This question only applies to trips when the trip status is ‘Observer’ or ‘Pending’ and not for a status of ‘Waiver’. On the Pending Trips page, a column named “Trip Type” will display ‘NEFOP’, ‘ASM’, ‘ NEFOP_LIMITED’, or will be blank. Provide the caller with trip type listed. Again, if the trip status is ‘Waiver’, then the “Trip Type” does not apply – the vessel is not assigned any type of observer when the trip is waived. Blank spaces in the “Trip Type” field will always indicate a waiver.

3) What is the date of my last trip, and when do I need to call in again? Check the Pending Trips page, or the Completed Trips page if there are no trips pending, to find the latest date for which a trip has been entered. Vessel representatives need to call in at least 48 hours in advance of their next trip.

4) Which provider has been assigned to my trip? Go to the Pending Trips page. Click the ‘Details’ link for the corresponding trip that has a status of ‘Observer’. The provider and their contact information will be listed in the details.

5) When will I know if I have an observer or a waiver? Vessels will be informed via email of their final trip status 24 hours prior to trip sail at the latest, and the status will also be found in the vessel’s web account at that point.

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