How Angler Surveys Work
WHO’S RESPONSIBLE FOR COLLECTING FISHING INFORMATION
The Department of Commerce’s NOAA Fisheries Service is entrusted with ensuring the long-term health of ocean fisheries and other marine life in federal waters. By doing so, we help saltwater anglers enjoy rewarding days on the water, commercial fishermen earn a good living, and citizens living along our coasts experience a good quality of life.
NOAA Fisheries works with eight regional fishery councils and three interstate fisheries commissions to regularly review the health of hundreds of ocean fisheries. They use this information to decide how many fish can be taken recreationally and commercially without negatively affecting the long term health of individual fisheries. They also ensure appropriate measures are taken to recover fisheries in trouble.
One vital tool for fishery councils and commissions—as well as state agencies that make conservation decisions in state waters —is a series of surveys that estimate saltwater anglers’ overall catch and effort (“effort” means how many fishing trips anglers took over a given period).
HOW WE COUNT FISH AND FISHERMEN
While it’s impossible to ask each and every one of America’s 13 million anglers about their fishing habits, NOAA Fisheries and state agencies can survey enough anglers to gather the needed information to make sound fisheries conservation policy. Just like polls that predict such things as Presidential elections within a few percentage points, NOAA Fisheries has developed a survey program that can determine total catch by surveying a few thousand saltwater anglers.
Sampling is based on mathematical probability theory, which may sound complex, but the basic concept really isn’t. George Gallup, founder of the famous Gallup Poll, once described sampling with this simple analogy: he said sampling a population was like taste-testing soup; one spoonful can reflect the taste of the whole bowl, if the soup is well stirred. In other words, a sample can accurately reflect a much larger population so long as the sample is representative of the whole.
When it comes to surveying saltwater anglers, NOAA Fisheries selects sites in proportion to the expected fishing activity at those sites. This broad representation is what “stirs the soup.” In addition to being representative, the sample size also has to be large enough to derive the most statistically accurate estimates.
Because we’re not counting each angler and every fish, it is inevitable that there will be some margin of error associated with estimates (as is the case with all surveys). The key is to keep it within a statistically acceptable percentage range to ensure the most accurate conclusions possible.
HOW ANGLERS ARE CURRENTLY SAMPLED
The current program is made up of an integrated system of surveys, each targeted toward particular segments of the fishing community (one for for-hire vessels, one for anglers pursuing highly migratory species, and one for all other anglers).
Most current angler surveys randomly sample angler catch and effort, and then incorporate a simple estimation procedure to determine total catch. Catch and effort information is gathered separately to ensure we get representative and independent samples. This means the survey program is comprised of two parts:
- In-Person Intercepts – NOAA Fisheries contractors and state agency employees work together, serving as in-field samplers to conduct angler surveys. Samplers may work at marinas, boat ramps, and shore fishing sites to interview anglers about their trips and count, weigh, and measure their catch. From that information, gathered over time and in various locales, the average catch per trip is estimated.
- Telephone Interviews – NOAA Fisheries hires telephone interviewers who randomly contact households in coastal communities (a practice known as “random digit dialing”). When a saltwater angler is found and agrees to participate in an interview, he or she is asked the number of trips they took in the preceding two months (a frequency known as a “wave”). From this information the total number of trips is estimated.
Total catch is then estimated by combining these two independent sets of data, using the following formula: Catch per Trip x Number of Trips = Total Catch.
It usually takes a couple of months to compile information from both surveys, perform quality control, and tabulate the results from each 2 month wave. As a result, in most places, total estimates of catch and effort are produced on an annual basis. These annual estimates are then used by scientists and managers to determine the health and sustainability of the fishery and make informed decisions about how many fish can be caught the following year.
IMPROVING ANGLER SURVEYS
Government fisheries managers and partners in the recreational fishing community are currently collaborating to improve the timeliness and accuracy of these angler survey efforts. A thoroughly updated angler survey program—called the Marine Recreational Information Program—is being phased in to improve the collection, analysis, and use of fishing data.
In-person field sampling and telephone interviews are expected to continue with the Marine Recreational Information Program, but many specific survey elements related to both data collection and analysis will be refined to address issues such as data gaps, bias, consistency, accuracy, and timeliness (in other words, many of the improvements will help ensure the soup is well stirred).
One of the most significant new features of the new program will be the creation of a national saltwater angler registry. The registry will help improve data collection by creating a universe of saltwater anglers—essentially a “phonebook” of fishermen that is updated each year. Instead of contacting a random sample of coastal residents (what is currently done), an angler registry would allow surveyors to call upon those who have already identified themselves as saltwater fishermen. This will help reduce bias and improve the efficiency and effectiveness of catch and effort surveys.