Recreational Fisheries
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Overview
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The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration,
National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) is required to collect statistics
on marine recreational fishing. The NMFS uses several surveys
to gather information on
- the participation, fishing effort, and
catch in marine recreational fishing, and
- the demographic, social,
and economic characteristics of the participants.
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INTRODUCTION
Until the 1970's, it was thought that commercial fisheries took the greater
part of the total marine fishery catch in the waters of the United States. However,
most species of fish in estuarine and inshore areas, as well as many in open
waters, are harvested jointly by recreational and commercial fishermen. Catches
by the marine recreational fishery are a significant portion of the total
landings of many marine species. Passage of the Magnuson Fishery Conservation
and Management Act (MFCMA, 16 USC 1801) in 1976 mandated collection of data
for both commercial and recreational marine fisheries. Following
several years of testing, a standard method of data collection and statistical
estimation was initiated in 1981. Catch, effort, and participation
estimates for marine recreational fisheries have been produced since 1981.
Catch, effort, and participation statistics are fundamental for assessing
the influence of fishing on any stock of fish. The quantities taken,
the fishing effort, and the seasonal and geographical distribution of the
catch and effort are required for the development of rational management
policies and plans. Continuous monitoring of catch, effort, and participation
is needed to monitor trends, to evaluate the impacts of management regulations,
and to project what impacts various management scenarios will have on a fishery.
AUTHORIZATION
NMFS is charged with administering a program of research and services
relating to the ocean and inland waters of the United States. Collecting
statistics on marine recreational fisheries is authorized by:
- Section 5(a) (4) of the
Fish and Wildlife Act of 1956 (16 USC 742), which provides for the collection
and dissemination of statistics on commercial and sport fishing;
- Migratory
Game Fish Study Act of 1959 (16 USC 760(e)), which provides for a continuing
study of migratory marine fishes, including the effects of fishing on the
species.
- Sections 303 and 304(e) of the MFCMA, (Public Law 94-265), and the re-authorized
and amended
Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Reauthorization Act
of 2006 (MSRA), which
require the collection of statistics for fishery conservation and management.
- Sections 802 and 804
of the Atlantic Coastal Fisheries Cooperative Management Act, which requires
NMFS to develop and implement a program to support the Atlantic States
Marine Fisheries Commission in interstate fishery management efforts, including
collection, management and analysis of fisheries data.
- Section
971i of the Atlantic Tunas Convention Act of 1975 which requires a comprehensive
research and monitoring program to support the conservation and management
of Atlantic bluefin tuna and other highly migratory species
METHODOLOGY
The basic design for collecting recreational fishing statistics consists
of a complemented surveys approach that includes telephone surveys of fishing
effort and an access-site intercept survey of angler catch. This basic
design is shown in Figure 1.
Figure 1. Traditional complementary surveys approach (fishing modes are
independently estimated).
The Coastal Household Telephone Survey (CHTS)
The CHTS collects fishing effort data from shore and private boat anglers. Because
the majority of shore and private boat fishing trips are taken by individuals
who live in coastal areas, the CHTS is limited to households located in
coastal counties. Correction factors derived from the intercept survey
are used to account for trips taken by non-coastal resident and out-of-state
anglers, as well as anglers who live in households without telephones. Data
collection occurs during a two-week period at the end of each two-month
sample period (or “wave”). In 2006 the survey was conducted
for the entire year (January through December or waves 1-6) on the Pacific
coast, the Gulf of Mexico coast, the Atlantic coast of Florida, Hawaii,
and Puerto Rico. The survey was conducted for ten months (March through
December or waves 2-6) on the Atlantic coast north of Florida, except for
Maine and New Hampshire, where it was conducted for six months (May through
October or waves 3-5). This regional annual schedule has been maintained
since the survey inception in 1979 although not all states, or commonwealths,
have been surveyed in all years (see Geographic Coverage section). The
CHTS is currently being conducted in the Pacific coast sub-regions (CA,
OR, WA) concurrently with Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission-coordinated
state surveys to evaluate alternative angler effort methodologies (Pacific
RecFIN hyperlink). The CHTS specifically excludes Texas and Alaska,
who conduct their own recreational fishing surveys.
The CHTS utilizes a computer-assisted, random digit dialing (RDD) approach
to contact full-time residential households. Contacted households
are screened to determine if any household members participated in marine
recreational fishing during the previous 2 months, and each active angler
is asked to recall the number of saltwater fishing trips that were taken
during the wave, as well as provide details about each trip. Institutional
housing, businesses, wireless phones, and pay phones are excluded from
the survey. Within each state, sample is allocated among coastal
counties in proportion to household populations. For each coastal
county, data from the CHTS are used to estimate the average number of trips
per household, which is then expanded by the county household population
to estimate total trips. County estimates are summed and then expanded
by intercept survey adjustment factors to produce state-level effort estimates. All
estimates are computed by fishing mode, then all mode-level estimates are
aggregated to obtain the total statewide estimates.
For-Hire Telephone Survey (FHS)
The FHS was developed to resolve undercoverage of Charter and Party boat
angler effort by the CHTS. The CHTS does not capture the majority of
for-hire angling effort in most states because most anglers who take trips
on Charter and Head (or Party) boats do not live in coastal counties. A
series of pilot studies to obtain fishing effort information directly from
Charter boat operators was conducted in North Carolina and Maine, then throughout
the Gulf of Mexico sampling region (Louisiana - West Florida). After
several years of testing, the FHS was implemented as the ‘official’ methodology
for obtaining Gulf of Mexico Charter boat effort in January, 2000. This
FHS design was then pilot tested against a logbook program and the CHTS in
South Carolina in 2000 and included Head boats as well as Charter boats. The
FHS was implemented for all Atlantic Coast states from Maine through Georgia
in January 2005. It overlaps other charter and headboat monitoring
programs, including the Northeast (Maine-Virginia) Vessel Trip Reporting
Program (VTR), the Southeast Regional Headboat Survey (SERHS), various state
logbook programs, and the ongoing CHTS.
The sampling unit for the FHS is not the household but the individual for-hire
vessel. The sample frame is constructed from a comprehensive directory
of for-hire boats for all states, from Maine through Georgia. The vessel
directory consists of a vessel identifier (vessel name or registration number),
the name, address and telephone number of an identified vessel representative
(captain or owner), as well as a variety of accessory information, such as
eligibility, activity, and cooperation status. Sampling is stratified
by vessel type (head boat and charter boat), state, and week, within each
two-month sampling wave. Currently, vessels are sampled at a rate of
10% within each stratum, with a minimum sample size of 3 vessels. Data
collection is conducted on a weekly basis during all weeks within each wave. The
weekly dialing is completed during the weekfollowing the specified sample
week of fishing. Respondents are asked to report vessel fishing activity
for the prior week, and then asked to profile each for-hire fishing trip. Information
obtained for each trip includes area fished, number of anglers who fished,
hours of actual fishing activity, method of fishing, and target species,
if any. Advance notice of selection is mailed to each selected vessel
representative and alternative reporting modes are provided for the Atlantic
Coast respondents, including an interactive website, a fax number and a phone
contact for respondent-initiated interviewing. Effort estimates are
produced from the average number of angler-trips per vessel-type per week
and the number of vessels per vessel-type in the sampling frame. Adjustment
factors for active for-hire fishing boats that are not in the sample frame
(new to fleet, no contact information known, etc.) are produced from field
intercept survey questions and applied to the raw effort estimate.
Access-Point Angler Intercept Survey
The access-point angler intercept survey is conducted at public marine fishing
access points (boat ramps, piers, beaches, jettys, bridges, marinas, etc.)
to collect individual catch data, including species identification, total
number of each species, and length and weight measurements of individual
fishes, as well as some angler-specific information about the fishing trip
and the angler’s fishing behavior. The interviews are conducted
in person by trained field staff, and the sites and dates are selected by
a proportional random selection process such that those sites that have the
most activity within a sample month will be selected for interview collection
most often. The sampling schedule is independently determined by fishing
mode (shore fishers, charter boat fishers, or private or rental boat fishers)
and target sample sizes are based on statistical power and available funds. From
these angler-interviews a catch per trip estimate (cpue) can be made for
each type of fish encountered, either observed or reported. These
cpue estimates are combined with the effort estimates by sampling stratum
to produce the catch and harvest estimates. Questions are also asked
that provide the information to adjust for non-coastal residents’ effort,
fishing activity by anglers living in households without traditional landline
telephone service, and charter boat anglers fishing from boats that are not
in the FHS sample frame for the wave.
The Large Pelagics Survey (LPS)
The Large Pelagics Survey (LPS) is specifically designed to collect information
on recreational fishing directed at large pelagic species (e.g., tunas, billfishes,
swordfish, sharks, wahoo, dolphin, and amberjack). Offshore trips targeting
large pelagics typically make up a relatively small proportion of all recreational
fishing trips. Using this specialized survey design allows for higher
levels of sampling large pelagic trips, which ultimately improves estimates
of catch and effort for large pelagics. The LPS has been conducted
since 1992 from Maine through Virginia. The LPS includes two independent,
complementary surveys which provide the effort and average catch per trip
estimates needed to estimate total catch by species. The Large Pelagics
Intercept Survey (LPIS) is a dockside survey of private and charterboat captains
who have just completed fishing trips directed at large pelagic species. This
survey is conducted at public fishing access sites that are likely to be
used by offshore anglers, and is primarily designed to collect detailed catch
data. The Large Pelagics Telephone Survey (LPTS) collects fishing effort
information directly from captains holding Highly Migratory Species (HMS)
permits (required by NOAA Fisheries to land these species). The LPTS
is stratified by permit category: HMS Angling and Atlantic Tunas General
permits and HMS Charter/Headboat permits. Data from the phone survey are used to estimate the total
number of boat trips on which anglers fished with rod and reel or handline
for large pelagic species. The LPS differs from the standard marine
recreational fishing surveys mainly in estimating effort and catch by BOAT,
rather than by angler. Information on the number of anglers per boat-trip
is collected by the LPIS, but the primary unit for all estimates is the boat-trip,
or boat-day of fishing. Additional information collected during LPIS and
LPTS interviews include target species, tournament participation, fishing
method used, fishing location, water depth, and water temperature.
Figure 2. Large Pelagics Survey approach
Last Updated:
February 12, 2009
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