Recreational Fisheries Data Collection Forum

October 22, 2004

Release from:
NOAA

The Gulf Coast Recreational Data Forum was held on Tuesday, October 12, 2004, in conjunction with the Gulf Council Meeting in Panama City, FL. Dr. Roy Crabtree, SE Regional Administrator, and NOAA Fisheries staff were on hand to provide up-to-date program information and answer questions about NOAA Fisheries’ recreational data collection program.

Issues discussed included survey coverage of headboats, overlap with existing HMS programs and coverage for specific HMS species. Recreational constituents suggested improvements for better coverage of the growing yellowfin tuna fishery, and ways to include fishing from private access sites. They also requested the development of a pilot study of licensed anglers to collect recreational effort data.

In the wake of recent hurricanes, for-hire captains requested survey adjustments (e.g. dockside validation component was affected since many docks were destroyed), a voluntary logbook program to “groundtruth” survey data, and the addition of a web and fax reporting options for the For-Hire Survey (as done in the Atlantic).

A second regional meeting has been scheduled in conjunction with the South Atlantic Council meeting in early December in Atlantic Beach, NC. Dates are not yet final.

For more information, contact Michael.Bailey@noaa.gov.