September 23, 2023 — The sportfishing community is calling on NOAA for an overhaul of the methods researchers use to estimate fish stock after an internal study from the association found that a coastal survey could be overestimating the amount of recreational fishing going taking place.
NOAA — the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration — published a study in August called “Evaluating Measurement Error in the MRIP Fishing Effort Survey,” which found a 30-40 percent discrepancy between the data from the administration’s current Fishing Effort Survey (FES) and a differently formatted test survey that was issued as part of the study.
Researchers concluded that the discrepancy is likely an overestimate of coastal fishing activity.
The study was one of a handful that researched possible biases in the continual Fishing Effort Survey, which is run by the Marine Recreational Information Program (MRIP), a state, regional and federal partnership that is part of NOAA. MRIP is tasked with compiling recreational catch data, which is then used to direct management strategies for fish populations.
Read the full article at OC Today