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In addition to the Federal and State efforts to gather marine 

 recreational fishing data, numerous site-specific research projects carried 

 on by universities and governments are studying particular problems and 

 particular species on an ad hoc basis. These studies, which are somewhat 

 hard to locate and catalogue, will be important in answering methodological 

 questions concerning gathering marine recreational fishing data and defining 

 the OSY concept in recreational fishing. 



The data-gathering efforts for marine recreational fishing can be 

 summarized as follows: the Statistics and Market News Division, through its 

 Saltwater Angler Survey, provides the only data on catch and participants 

 by species on a four to five year basis. Other federal government agencies 

 gather data occasionally on marine recreational fishing outings. In New 

 England, with the exception of Massachusetts, states have not attempted to 

 gather any data. We thus have reasonable data on the total number of parti- 

 cipants by species (item (1) above) at the intervals provided by SMND. 

 There is no data which would give insight into number of outings by species 

 (item (2) above) . The Saltwater Angler Survey gives data on total catch by 

 species, but there is no systematic data which would permit the estimation 

 of average catch per outing by species (item (3) above) . Some ad hoc 

 studies have gathered data on the socio-economic characteristics of indi- 

 vidual sports fishermen (item (5)) and estimated per capita demand functions 

 (item (4)). However, in particular on the East Coast, there have been few 

 empirical studies on the economic demand for marine recreational fishing. 



Although the exact data needs implied by the Act have not been 

 ascertained, it is possible to discuss (1) the types of studies which will 

 develop the concept of OSY as applied to recreational fishing and (2) the 

 data gaps which need to be filled in order to determine OSY. The following 



