Marine Recreational Information Program

1. Marine Recreational Information Program Self-Guided Training Presentation

2. What is MRIP? • New initiative to better gather information on: • Catch • The number and species of fish caught • Effort • The number of trips anglers take

3. Why MRIP? • Better data is not an end to itself • Better data yields better management decisions to benefit • Fishermen • Coastal communities • Outdoor enthusiasts • Anyone else whose lives are impacted or livelihood sustained through healthy ocean ecosystems

4. Why Rec Fishing Matters, and To Whom By the Numbers Up to 24.7 million anglers taking 100 million trips generating $82.3 billion in sales creating 534,000 jobs

5. Importance of Recreational Fishing • Local jobs • Bait and tackle • Hospitality • Marine • Travel and tourism • Cultural heritage • Stewardship of marine resources

6. Sections of This Presentation • Introduction • How do Scientists Count Catch? • Why is MRIP Important? • What will MRIP Achieve? • How is MRIP Structured? • How will MRIP be Implemented? • Conclusion

7. What MRIP Won’t Do • Radically change current estimates or rules based on those estimates • Resolve all disputes about how to best manage ocean resources • Solve all the challenges facing our oceans • Climate change • Pollution • Competing interests

8. What MRIP Will Do • Improve data reliability • Provide better scientific foundation for policy decisions • Enable NOAA and Fishermen to work together to better protect ocean resources

9. Learn More www.countmyfish.noaa.gov

10. How do Scientists Count Catch?

11. How Do Scientists Count Catch? ‘You can’t manage what you can’t count’ We live in a world of numbers Yet what happens when we can’t count everything because Logistics Time Costs Make doing so impossible

12. Sampling Method for estimating the characteristics of a population based on things we can determine

13. Quantities We Can Estimate • The catch • The number of fish people are catching • The effort • The number of trips they’re taking to catch those fish

14. Catch Determined through direct observation Samplers go to docks, fishing piers, marinas, beaches to measure a random sampling of fish being caught

15. Effort Phone surveys Ask anglers how often they’ve been fishing in the past 2 months

16. Specialized Surveys Tailored to unique angler groups For-Hire Survey Large Pelagic Survey

17. Employ statistically proven methods to apply sampling data to the whole population of fishermen What Surveys Have in Common

18. Putting It All Together Combining estimates of ‘catch’ with Estimates of ‘effort’ enables scientists to Estimate the size of fish stocks

19. The Estimates … Are then used by scientists and managers to determine The health and sustainability of the fishery How many fish can get caught the following year

20. Most Important Factor Participation of recreational fishermen in the surveys and sampling

21. George Gallup Sampling a population is like taste-testing soup One spoonful can reflect the taste of the whole bowl, if that soup is well stirred

22. Techniques Used Every Day Determining how many viewers are tuned into a particular TV show Predicting the outcomes of presidential elections

23. Learn More www.countmyfish.noaa.gov

24. Why is MRIP Important?

25. Why is MRIP Important? More tennis players or saltwater recreational fishermen? 15 million saltwater anglers 100 million trips per year 80 billion dollars in sales Support more than half a million jobs across the country

26. Importance of Recreational Fishermen Lifeblood of local economies Bait and tackle shops Boat sales Restaurants Hotels Other businesses

27. Importance of Recreational Fishermen Significant user of the resource Larger than commercial harvest for many species Striped bass Bluefish Tautog Black rockfish

28. Importance of Recreational Fishermen Vital stewards of the resource Support beach clean-ups Educate other fishermen Advocate for better science Serve as the eyes and ears on the water

29. Importance of Recreational Fishermen Through participation in MRIP programs, anglers are invaluable contributors to marine science

30. Learn More www.countmyfish.noaa.gov

31. What Will MRIP Achieve?

32. What Will MRIP Achieve? Job of NOAA Fisheries Work to make sure that fish stocks stay healthy and abundant Preserve the economic and cultural heritage of recreational fishing now and into the future

33. Current Realities Numerous threats facing our oceans Overfishing of some species Climate change Pollution Increasing demands Negative impacts not only on the resource, but on the lives it enriches and livelihoods it supports

34. Addressing Challenges Head-On Making sure we do not catch more fish than the ocean can support Using science-based management to fairly and sensibly allocate access to our shared resources

35. What Will MRIP Achieve? Serve as a tool to provide most accurate, reliable measure ever of recreational catch Provide the objective, science-based scale upon which management decisions can be weighed Shift the focus of debate from the quality of the data to the quality of the policies the data supports

36. What Will MRIP Achieve? While MRIP estimates might not yield significantly different numbers, they will be much more reliable Therefore, resource management decisions can be made through Rational, Deliberate, Science-based discussions Involving all stakeholders

37. Learn More www.countmyfish.noaa.gov

38. How is MRIP Structured?

39. Identifying the Challenge Under MRFSS: Numerous different programs used to calculate catch and effort Different means used to collect information covering different area Inconsistent precision, timing and delivery of data

40. Addressing the Challenge NOAA’s scientists recognized the need for change Contracted with National Research Council of the National Academies of Science to evaluate program NRC offered numerous observations and recommendations

41. Addressing the Challenge Magnuson-Stevens Act Federal fisheries legislation has provided the mandate to implement the recommendations made by NRC

42. Addressing the Challenge MRIP primarily focused on addressing biases, shortcomings and inconsistencies in current data collection methods Ultimate goal is to deliver More accurate estimates Information more appropriate to the needs of today’s fishery managers

43. Addressing the Challenge MRIP being built from the “ground up” Cooperative approach involving those Who gather the data Who use the data to make management decisions Who are directly impacted by those decisions

44. MRIP Ensuring fish populations remain abundant and accessible won’t happen without everyone’s engagement and participation

45. What Will MRIP Look Like? • A series of regional surveys • Adhering to a set of national standards • National standards • Ensure quality data that can be relied upon for decision-making • Regional oversight • Accounts for needs of different fisheries and fishermen

46. Learn More www.countmyfish.noaa.gov

47. How Will MRIP Be Implemented?

48. Implementation • MRIP is being implemented in three concurrent phases • Evaluation • Innovation • Activation

49. Implementation • Evaluation • Examination of current sampling and estimation methods

50. Implementation • Innovation • Improving sampling and estimation designs for future surveys • Pilot testing of new sampling and estimation methods • Phased implementation of new survey methods • Benchmarking new survey methods against old survey methods