53 



D) Greater efforts at licensing. This issue causes significant 

 controversy. Licensing is not a panacea for excellent data, because as much 

 as 30 percent of the fishing individuals may be excluded.^ However, a 

 system of annual licensing would greatly enhance the ability of states to 

 monitor changes in recreational fishing over time. Licensing per se would 

 not provide the kinds of economic data which are crucial to determining OSY, 

 but it would provide researchers with a ready list of sports fishermen. 



E) Testing of techniques for monitoring catch data with site-specific 

 surveys. The purpose of these tests would be to develop inexpensive methods 

 for discerning trends and shifts in catch per outing of important species. 



The most notable gap in recreational fisheries is the linkage between 

 success ratios, which can be influenced by management decisions, and recrea- 

 tional benefits. Historically this connection has received little attention, 

 in part because of the nature of the decisions which were to 'be addressed. 

 The literature evolved primarily in the context of benefit-cost analyses for 

 public water resource investments in which the question posed was an all or 

 nothing decision. An assumption, often implicit, was that success ratios are 

 exogenous to the immediate issue. Given the context in which the literature 

 evolved, this assumption was tenable. It is not tenable in fisheries manage- 

 ment which must consider both commercial and recreational benefits, and how 

 each varies in response to management measures. 



In general it seems reasonable to hypothesize that recreational fishing 

 benefits would increase both with angler days and success ratios. Little 

 is known about the relative importance of angler days and success ratios as 



^For examples; senior citizens, children, veterans, handicapped, etc., 

 may be exempted from licensing requirements. This problem could be avoided 

 by retaining universal licensing but providing exemptions from fees for such 

 individuals . 



