The InPort metadata catalog gives NOAA Fisheries and its state and regional partners the capability to share essential information about fisheries data. It contains information needed to understand and use fisheries data.

InPort stores metadata—information about data—but not the fisheries data itself. InPort, for example, can help answer the following questions:

• What logbook data exist for US fisheries?
• What time periods and geographic areas are covered by the logbook records?
• Who controls the data and how do I contact that individual or organization?

In InPort, metadata includes information that helps explain what is in the data and how to use the data. It will have titles, authors, publishing organizations, publication dates, and whom to contact if you wanted to use the information. InPort will also contain other details about the structure of the data.