FIN Released Catch Workshop
FIN Released Catch Workshop
Quantifying numbers of fish released by recreational anglers is becoming an area of importance for many species across the country. In response to stock declines, fishery managers have taken regulatory steps to reduce harvest in the recreational sector, including increased size limits and reduced bag limits, and shorter recreational fishing seasons to ensure harvest levels do not exceed management targets. This has translated into a growing portion of recreational catch that is released at sea and unavailable for direct observation in dockside surveys.
Numbers of released fish are more difficult to quantify with precision than harvested catch, due largely to the fact that current methods rely on angler recall sometime after the trip has occurred. Looking at recent MRIP dockside survey data, anglers often round their reported releases in increments of five or ten. There is also concern about anglers recalling and identifying all of the different species released on a specific fishing trip. Angler dockside surveys report a large number of species caught during recreational fishing trips, yet none of the fish being released are actually validated.
For these reasons, this national workshop was developed through collaboration of ACCSP, GulfFIN, NOAA Fisheries, and Pacific RecFIN to evaluate current uses and needs of recreational released catch data and determine if other methods might be available to collect more accurate data.
The files found here represent the presentations and white papers that were utilized or referenced during the workshop. To access the live stream from both meeting days visit our YouTube channel.
Alternative Methods for Released Catch - MRIP Work Group Suggestions
Day 1 0830 - Recreational Released Catch Workshop
Day 2 0830 Beverlay Sauls - Monitoring_Rec_Discards_new
Day 2 0830 Geoff White - CT_Enhanced_Shore_Fishing
