U.S. Marine Recreational Fisheries 



DATA COLLECTION. Detailed informaUon on 

 marine recreational fishingis required to support a variety 

 of fishery management and development purposes and 

 is mandated by the Sustainable Fisheries Act, Public Law 

 94-265. In 1979, NMI'S began the comprehensive 

 Marine Recreational Fisheries Statistics Survey (MRFSS), 

 covenng all fishing modes (private/rental boat, part)'/ 

 charter boat, and shore), and including estuarine and 

 brackish water. Although the recreational harvest is only 

 about 8 percent of the total U.S. harvest of finfish for 

 states covered by the MRFSS (see coverage secdon 

 below), the fishing activities of millions of marine anglers 

 are important to monitor because they are directed at 

 relatively few species. Data collected through the MRFSS 

 and other programs show that recreauonal fishing sig- 

 nificantly impacts the stocks of many marine finfish 

 species. Recreational catches even surpass commercial 

 landings of some species (see figure on preceding page). 



METHODS. The MRFSS consists of a telephone 

 survey oi coastal county households and a field intercept 

 survey of angler fishing trips. The telephone survey 

 coUects data on the number of marine recreational fishing 

 trips by residents of coastal counties. Tlie intercept survev 

 collects data on the proportion of fisliing trips by 

 residents of non-coastal counties, the species composi- 

 tion of catches, catch rates by species, and lengths and 

 weights of landed fish. These data are combined to 

 produce estimates of catch and effort. Catch estimates 

 are separated into two categories - har\'ested catch and 

 catch released alive. Harvested catch includes landed fish 

 and catch reported as dead. NX/henever possible MRFSS 

 field interviewers identify, count, weigh, and measure 

 landed fish that are available in whole form (catch type 

 A). Angler reports are obtained for catch released alive 

 (catch type B2) and for all otlier harvested catch (catch 

 t}pe Bl), such as catch released dead, used for bait, or 

 filleted fish. Catch estimates are stratified by subregion, 

 state, wave (bimonthly sampling period), species, fishing 

 mode (private/rental boat, parrv/charter boat, and shore), 

 pnmary area fished, and catch type. In addition, eco- 

 nomic data are obtained and estimates of parucipation 

 are produced. 



In place of the MRFSS, Oregon and Washington con- 

 duct ocean boats surveys to produce catch and effort 

 estimates. Oregon's Ocean Recreational Boat Survey 

 (ORBS) and Washington's Ocean Sampling Program 

 (OSP) consist of a field intercept sun^ey for effort and 



catch of passenger and private boats. The effort data 

 consist of censuses of boat trips from a particular ocean 

 port inlet on sampled days. The catch data consist offish 

 species composition from sampled boats, numbers of 

 anglers, t^-pe of fishing, lengths and weights of landed 

 catch, and tag information from marked fish. Catch 

 landed whole are examined by samplers, wliile other 

 catch is reported by anglers or passenger boat crew. 

 Other catch includes fillets and released fish. The catch 

 rate data and boat counts are combined and expanded 

 by t\'pe of day to produce catch and effort esumates in 

 weekly to monthly time periods. Estimates of mean 

 catch per boat, catch per angler, total angler trips and 

 boat trips are produced for each port inlet or port group 

 stratified by time period, type of boat, type of trip and 

 water area. Catch estimates in numbers offish and weight 

 are produced for each species of fish with tag contribu- 

 tion rates for marked fish species. 



On the Atlantic and Gulf coasts, and in California and 

 Wasliington's Puget Sound, effort for the party/charter 

 fishing mode is now estimated through For- Hire Surveys 

 (FHS). These sun^eys differ from the MRFSS because 

 they use a telephone sun^ey of boats, rather than house- 

 holds, as the primary method for estimating tlsliing 

 effort. The telephone surveys arc weekly surveys that use 

 a director)- of charter boats and/or party/headboats as 

 their sampling frame. Samples of boats are selected at 

 random, and the operators of those boats are contacted 

 tor telephone inter\aews to collect information on the 

 number of boat trips and the numbers of anglers who 

 fished. Tlie telephone surveys estimate the number of 

 trips by boats included in the sampling frames. A 

 dockside survey of boat slips is used to validate the 

 phone-reported effort data and estimate appropriate 

 corrections for any reporting errors. Dockside and on- 

 board intercept sur\^eys collect the angler trip and catch 

 data. The total catch of any one species is calculated as 

 the product of the adjusted estimate of total angler trips 

 and the estimated mean catch per trip. i\lthough separate 

 estimates are generated for charter boat and party/ 

 headboat fishing through the FHS, estimates are not 

 stratified by vessel type in Califorma or Puget Sound. This 

 improved effort mednodology was initiated in 2000 on 

 the Gulf coast, in 2001 on the Pacific coast, and in 2003 

 on the Atlantic coast. FHS numbers are included here for 

 the Gulf coast and California but not for the Atlantic 

 coast or Puget Sound. 



20 



