1. From the February 1999 data tip page, click on the National Marine Fisheries Service Statistics and Economics Division link.

2. Click on the Commercial Fisheries link under the Areas of Interest heading on the left.

3. Select the Annual Landings link under Commercial Fishery Landings on the left.

4. Click on the SpeciesLocator button. Here we will verify the common name NMFS uses for a particular species (for instance there are 47 different types of rockfish).

5. Type in swordfish and hit Search. The same page will reappear with "Swordfish" in the return box, so we know there is only the one species of swordfish. Hit Return button.

6. On the Annual Landings Query page, fill in the following information:
   • Species - type species of choice, for this example type swordfish.
   • Year Range - select dates of choice, for this example select from 1967 to 1997.
   • State/Area - select area of choice, for this example select Atlantic and Gulf.
   • Output Form - to simply view the data, you would choose Table, but we want to export the data so we can make a graph so select DOWNLOAD ASCII FILE - PC. Hit Submit Query button.

7. FOR NETSCAPE USERS

   A Save As window will appear. Type the file name you wish to save it as (for example swordfish.txt), be sure to end with the extension .txt. If you have choices in File Type, make sure Text is selected. Also, be sure to note under which directory you save the file. Hit Save.

   FOR MICROSOFT INTERNET EXPLORER USERS

   Go to File, Save As. Type the file name you wish to save it as (for example swordfish.txt), be sure to end with the extension .txt. If you have choices in File Type, make sure Text is selected. Also, be sure to note under which directory you save the file. Hit Save.

   Importing Data into Excel

8. Open Microsoft Excel. Open the file you just saved (be sure you have selected Text in the File Type). You will get the Text Import Wizard.
   • Step 1 - Select Delimited, Start Import at Row: 1, and File Origin: Windows (ANSI). Hit Next.
   • Step 2 - Select Delimiters: Comma and Text Qualifier: ". Hit Next.
   • Step 3 - Select Column Data Format: General. Hit Finish.

     If you see "#######" in a cell(s) instead of numbers, do not panic. This just means the columns are not wide enough to display the whole number so you need to make the columns wider by clicking and dragging the line between the letters at the top of the column.

   Graphing the Data

9. Go to an empty cell, G1 for instance, and click on the (chart wizard) icon.
   • Step 1 - Under Standard Types select Chart Type: Lines. Under Chart Sub-type select the first chart in the second row (two lines with dots). Hit Next.

   • Step 2 - Under Data Range tab, click on the (collapse dialog) icon. We are going to look at the metric tons per year data, so highlight the three columns of data starting with the year "1967" cell (Column A, Row 6) and ending with the metric ton "2,164.00" cell (Column C, Row 36). Click on the (open dialog) icon. Make sure the Series In: Columns is selected.

     Under the Series tab, go to Category (X) axis labels. You should have something that looks like "=landings3!$A$8:$B$38", change the "B" to an "A" making it "=landings3!$A$8:$A$38". (We are doing this because the species column that lists "swordfish" is unnecessary for our graph, so we are eliminating it here). Hit Next.

   • Step 3 - Chart Options. Enter the titles, legend, etc. that you wish. Hit Next.

   • Step 4 - Select Place Chart As New Sheet: Chart 1. Hit Finish.

10. To save your spreadsheet and plots, to to File, Save As. Select File Type Microsoft Excel Workbook (*.xls).

You have just graphed the 1967-1997 commercial swordfish landings for the Atlantic and Gulf! At this point, you can refer back to the Bridge data tip for discussion questions and ideas, and for more links on related subjects. This graphing exercise can be repeated for any species, dates, or locations.