• Program Overview
• Organization
• Projects
• Frequently Asked Questions

New regulatory mandates have led to ever-greater demands for more timely and accurate data on saltwater recreational fishing. An initiative is underway to build a new program to improve the collection, analysis, and use of recreational saltwater fishing information. The Marine Recreational Information Program is the new umbrella under which all of the nation’s non-commercial data collections will be housed. This includes the Hawaii Marine Recreational Fishing Survey, or HMRFS, and the voluntary creel surveys being conducted in American Samoa, Guam and the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas. Across the country, current methods are being examined and analyzed, and pilot studies utilizing new methods that address current program deficiencies are underway. In the Western Pacific region, we have received funding to conduct outreach on the MRIP, document the data collection systems being used in the territories, and undertake a critical examination of the sampling and extrapolation methodologies used in the existing Hawaii program. The new program is slated to be unveiled in January 2009.

Today, NOAA Fisheries, state natural resource agencies, and community partners are working together to revamp saltwater angler surveys, which are among the most important data collection tools.  Because so much has changed since NOAA Fisheries launched its original recreational fishing data program 30 years ago, the agency is bringing the best minds together to develop a new survey program to meet the needs of today’s fisheries managers.

NOAA Fisheries’ original recreational fishing data program, the Marine Recreational Fisheries Statistics Surveys, will be phased out over the next several years.  Quite simply, the MRIP will better answer these fundamental questions:  Who fishes?  What’s being caught?  How many fish are caught?  Where and when are they caught?  In addition, a saltwater angler registry will give the agency a more definitive pool of survey participants to call upon, at the same time giving saltwater anglers better representation in the decision-making process.

The Marine Recreational Information Program is designed to improve the methodology of collection and analysis of saltwater recreational fishing data.  Ultimately, it will help decision-makers gain a far better understanding of saltwater recreational fishing’s relationship to fisheries conservation. For an overview of the initiative to develop the MRIP, click here (Apr 2008, pdf 44 kB).

Teams of experts from both inside and outside of government have been convened to deal with distinct aspects of the redesign process. Teams are tasked in these focus areas: Data Management and Standards, Design and Analysis, For-Hire Fisheries, Highly Migratory Species, National Saltwater Angler Registry, and Communications and Education. This approach promotes a survey redesign process that is inclusive and transparent. The Western Pacific region currently has eleven official representatives serving on all of the workgroups. We have a wider group of approximately 25 people who serve as our informal MRIP advisory group. Click here (Apr 2008, pdf 63 kB) for a complete list of MRIP team members.

In January 2008, NOAA Fisheries provided $2.5 million in new funding to support projects that enhance the nationwide saltwater recreational fishing data collection and analysis program. Projects will improve the surveys by expanding the sampling pool and reducing potential bias; improving and expanding counting methods for released fish, certain types of fishing, and non-licensed anglers; developing standards across states and regions to make data more comparable; and creating new counting methods related to highly migratory fisheries of special concern. The Western Pacific representatives submitted 6 project proposals on behalf of our region. Currently, one project has been partially funded, and another is ongoing, despite no new funding.

Project Proposal 1: Correct sampling and extrapolation process
(partially funded)

This project would provide a new sampling design for obtaining recreational (e.g. non-commercial) fishing catch and effort data in Hawaii. It would also provide a well documented statistical extrapolation procedure which would combine data from the effort and catch subsurveys (currently a telephone survey for effort and a field creel survey for catch) to produce improved statewide estimates of Hawaii recreational catch and effort. Both the recent NRC report on the MRFSS program, as well as reviews of available survey extrapolations by fishery scientists, managers and participants have raised concerns regarding the current survey’s telephone and creel sampling frames and extrapolation processes. Although a range of other concerns are also discussed in the NRC report, a failure to thoroughly address and correct survey sampling and extrapolation issues will bring into question all future MRFSS (and by association it’s Hawaiian counterpart, HMRFS) estimates and reports.

Project Proposal 2: Night Sampling (currently unfunded)

In Hawaii, night fishing catch rates, composition, participation and effort is thought to be significantly different than the daytime fishery.  Offshore, large pelagics feed on the surface and can be pursued more efficiently.  Yellowfin and bigeye tuna, for example, are targeted at night using ika-shibi gear (literally translated as squid-tuna).  This gear is used with shallow handlines and pole and reel, while fish, bait, and associated biomass are attracted to the boat using submerged lights (Glazier 2007).  Inshore, many species of reef fish that do not feed in daylight hours feed voraciously at night, and other reef fish which are not nocturnal are targeted at night with spear and net, due to their ease of capture.  Further, two scad species are targeted at night with both nets and hook and line, and catches per trip sometimes exceed 100 pounds.  This contrasts with the daytime for these two fisheries, where large catches are less common (DAR/HMRFS unpublished data). The benefits of this project will be:  (1) An estimate of night fishing effort in terms of location and time of year (spatial and temporal characterization of night fishing effort); (2) Description of public access sites from which night fishing trips are conducted (development of a night fishing site sample frame); (3) Comparison of day and night fishing characteristics, specifically, species targeted, trip length, catch composition, CPUE and gear types. If data are available, island/site specific fishing activity will be compared.

Project Proposal 3: Angler registration project (currently unfunded)

As the MRIP Registry Team moves forward with creating a national saltwater angler registry, exemptions are planned for those States that can already provide the needed information through existing licenses and databases.  In the Western Pacific region, no such fishing license exists.  However, boats need to be registered with the State of Hawaii and the application asks if it is used for fishing.  This registration system may be a venue to collect the needed information for the MRIP registry.  This project would include accessing the database to determine if the information needed by the MRIP registry team is provided and working with the registry team to provide an exemption to Hawaii fishermen/vessel owners.

Project Proposal 4: WPacFIN survey improvements (currently unfunded)

The purpose of this MRIP proposal is to support WPacFIN in collaboration with non-Hawaiian island territories to expand their existing Boat-based and Shore-based data collection programs. This expansion of the current system will benefit all parties involved. An expansion of current data collection programs will better serve the current mandates of PIFSC, PIRO, and the WPRFMC and will undoubtedly prove crucial in moving forward with future endeavors of ecosystem based management and the MRIP re-design.

Project Proposal 5: Best Guess Project expansion (ongoing, no new funding)

This project would allow for the expansion of the Best Guess Project to additional tournaments in Hawaii. The project would allow NMFS and our MRIP partners to further test how accurate fishermen can be at guessing the weights of their larger ahi, and determine whether reliable adjustment factors can be created out of the dataset assembled through this project. Our target sample size would be 1600 guesses and/or 750 fishermen. This project would also aim to collect length data from half of the fish weighed using calipers (for efficiency of data collection). This would allow or the verification of length/weight correlations that are currently based on commercial landings.

Project Proposal 6: Localization of the random digit dial (RDD) survey(currently unfunded)

The Marine Recreational Fishery Statistical Survey (MRFSS) is comprised of two components: the Coastal Household Telephone Survey (CHTS) which uses Random Digit Dialing (RDD) to survey random households and obtain fishery effort; and the field survey, to sample fish catch.  Together, these two components are used to extrapolate annual fish catch for a region. Although the Hawaii CHTS has one of the best response rates in the program, the Hawaii CHTS has been suspect of providing erroneous fishery effort due to the miscommunication with local Hawaii recreational fishery participants.

One of the main reasons for the miscommunication is a language barrier.  Many local Hawaii fishermen do not speak “proper English” which CHTS callers may have a hard time interpreting.  Also, local fishermen may use names of fish that are unfamiliar to the CHTS callers.  A large problem that often occurs is CHTS callers are not identified to the local households and many participants may either state that they don’t fish, no one in the house fishes, or hang-up on the caller.  Those that do answer the survey may provide false information to the callers.  Although the response rates for the Hawaii CHTS is above average, the data collected may not be very good. 

All of these suspected problems have come from talking with Hawaii fishermen.  A solution to this would be to contract a local Hawaii firm to operate the CHTS from Hawaii using local people.  The callers would therefore be more familiar to the local households and more likely to know the local names of fish being reported.

Why is NOAA Fisheries redesigning its recreational fishing surveys?

In recent years, fisheries managers, as well as partners in the recreational fishing community, increasingly raised concerns about the timeliness and accuracy of NOAA Fisheries’ primary recreational survey program, the Marine Recreational Fisheries Statistics Surveys (often called MRFSS). In Hawaii, we refer to the survey as the Hawaii Marine Recreational Fishing Survey, or HMRFS.

NOAA Fisheries responded by requesting a thorough review by the National Academy of Sciences’ National Research Council in 2005.  In April 2006, a group of independent scientists announced their findings, recommending the agency and its state partners dramatically redesign the recreational survey program. 

In addition, when Congress reauthorized the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act in January 2007, it echoed many of the council’s recommendations and included a provision requiring a new national saltwater angler registry.

For these reasons, the nearly 30-year-old MRFSS is being phased out as a thoroughly updated angler survey is phased in.  The new Marine Recreational Information Program will improve the collection, analysis, and use of fishing data and eventually replace the existing program.

How is the new program going to be different?

The Marine Recreational Information Program will be more than a one-size-fits-all survey.  Rather, the program will be made up of an interconnected system of surveys, each targeted toward particular segments of the fishing community (for-hire, private fishermen, highly migratory species) and regions of the country.  This allows the agency, the states, the fishery management councils, and the recreational industry itself to most efficiently capture information from these important segments.

Fishermen who participate in sampling efforts may not immediately notice many differences, as some of the changes to recreational fishing data program will be taking place behind the scenes.  The process will be similar to rolling out a new car that looks similar to previous models, but under the hood is a completely redesigned engine.

What will the Marine Recreational Information Program do?
 
The new survey will help managers better understand saltwater sportfishing’s relationship to fisheries sustainability by better answering these fundamental questions:  Who fishes?  What’s being caught?  How many fish are caught?  Where and when are people fishing?

Data collection has traditionally been conducted through telephone interviews and in-person field sampling.  These practices are expected to continue with the Marine Recreational Information Program, and many survey elements (related to both data collection and analysis) will be updated and refined to address issues such as data gaps, bias, consistency, accuracy, and timeliness.

One of the most important improvements is the development of a national saltwater angler registry, providing a much more efficient and effective route for collecting data than current techniques.

What is the National Saltwater Angler Registry?

Congress, through the recently reauthorized Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, called on NOAA Fisheries to take the lead in creating a national registry of saltwater fishermen.  The legislation set a January 1, 2009 deadline for the registry to take effect.  (In its recommendations to NOAA Fisheries, the National Research Council also advocated for such a registry.) 

The registry will help improve data collection by creating a universe of saltwater fishermen—essentially a phonebook of fishermen that is updated each year.  This resource will help reduce bias and improve the efficiency of catch and effort surveys.  It also will give saltwater fishermen better representation in the policy-making process. 

Instead of asking a random sample of coastal U.S. residents if they’ve gone fishing (what is currently done), an angler registry would allow surveyors to call upon those who have already identified themselves as saltwater fishermen.  For example, if you needed a loaf of bread you wouldn’t randomly visit a hardware store or a post office, you’d go directly to a grocery store.  Likewise, if you want to know what fishermen are catching, it’s much more efficient and effective to go directly to the fishermen and ask.

Don’t most states already have a saltwater fishing license?

Many states do have some kind of fishing license for saltwater fishermen.  The actual requirements for who has to have a license vary from state to state.  States that are currently without any saltwater fishing license include Connecticut, Hawaii, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Maine, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and the western Pacific and Caribbean territories.

What information would be included in the registry?

The registry will include just enough information to make it possible to contact fishermen to conduct surveys of catch and effort. As is the case already, surveys may be handled by representatives of NOAA Fisheries or state fisheries agencies.  More specific information about minimum data requirements and acceptable state fishing license exemptions will be more clearly spelled out when NOAA Fisheries releases a proposed rule on the national saltwater angler registry in Summer 2008.  A proposed rule is a public document announcing significant government plans and offering opportunity for public input, usually for 45 days or more.

Will it cost fishermen money to be registered?

It could.  Congress gave NOAA Fisheries the option of collecting a fee to cover administrative costs of running a registry starting in 2011.  However, if NOAA Fisheries ends up collecting fees, the agency will not necessarily be privy to the revenue generated.  In general, fees from any federal government program go back into the U.S. Treasury and can be used for any federal program, unless specific legislation or special Congressional action funnels it back to the originating agency. This is meant to protect the public interest by avoiding an automatic incentive for federal agencies to charge fees.  The downside is that fishermen’s dollars would not necessarily be channeled back into fisheries conservation and management.   

Fees would be more likely to go to programs fishermen care about if states administered their respective portions of the national registry.  Congress provided an added incentive for states to do so by giving them the option of collecting fees for the registry if they require a saltwater fishing license or otherwise collect the data the registry requires.  If states collect fees for the registry they can use their discretion on how the fee revenue is spent.  

Are there any exemptions from the registry requirement?

If states already have a program in place that gathers the data necessary for the registry (such as a complete saltwater fishing license that accounts for all fishermen), there is no requirement that they develop another system for collecting this information from fishermen. 

Will fishermen fishing from charter vessels have to be registered?

No.  If the only fishing fishermen do is from a charter or party boat, they will not have to register.  This is because the for-hire sector is already well accounted for. 

Since a vessel-based survey is used for the charter industry, would it be possible to register private boats in the same way and use that in place of an angler registry?