MRIP Transition Plan for the Fishing Effort Survey

The MRIP Transition Plan for the Fishing Effort Survey (PDF, 34 pages) outlines a comprehensive three-year timeline for the Marine Recreational Information Program's transition from the Coastal Household Telephone Survey to the Fishing Effort Survey. The transition plan was prepared by an Atlantic and Gulf Coast Subgroup of the MRIP Transition Team in accordance with NOAA Fisheries' policies for the transition to new recreational fishing survey methods. It ensures potential impacts to fisheries science and management are thought-out and accounted for before the Fishing Effort Survey is implemented.

Background

In 1979, NOAA Fisheries implemented the Coastal Household Telephone Survey to collect information about recreational fishing effort from shore and private boats. While random digit dialing was a standard sampling practice for household surveys like this one, there were known limitations to this approach. These limitations grew more pronounced over time, due in large part to a decline in the use of landline telephones.

A series of pilot studies led the Marine Recreational Information Program to design a new mail survey of fishing effort. The so-called Fishing Effort Survey was designed to increase response rates, reduce the potential for reporting and recall errors, and achieve a more representative sample than the survey it replaced. All evidence suggests the Fishing Effort Survey is a more accurate and efficient way of estimating marine recreational fishing trips.

All evidence also suggests the Coastal Household Telephone Survey underestimated fishing effort. For this reason, using a calibration model to convert historical effort estimates to the “currency” of the new Fishing Effort Survey design raised historical estimates across the time series. For fish stocks assessed to date, this has generally resulted in higher estimates of past abundance.

Learn more about the transition to the Fishing Effort Survey