New Jersey Voluntary Angler Survey(s)

Jeff Brust and Maryellen Gordon

NJ Division of Fish and Wildlife

Volunteer Angler Survey Workshop

Baltimore, MD

February 2, 2012

Bonus Program Logbooks

• Striped Bass Bonus Program VAS

• Implemented 1993 (paper), 2007 (online)

• Specific to striped bass– Catch, effort, harvested lengths

• Stock assessments, management options

• Thousands of individuals at peak; less than 100 in 2011– Less incentive to participate– Still good participation from party/charter vessels

• Program being phased out

NJ VAS Overview

• Implemented June 2008

• Similar to MRFSS– Trip info, catch info, lengths

• Marine waters of NJ and surrounding area

• Voluntary, internet based, open access

Objectives

• Supplement/complement MRIP data

• Fill data gaps– Wave 1– Length data, particularly discards

• Address concerns of constituents– “I’ve never been interviewed!”– Alternate management scenarios

Summary statistics

2008 2009 2010 2011

Survey entries 719 330 457 954

Participating individuals 406 69 168 225

Entries per individual Max 31 54 31 182 (35)

Avg 1.78 4.78 2.59 4.24 (3.45)

Std dev 2.65 8.81 3.87 13.09 (5.46)

Angler trips 1,973 657 1,001 2,042

Entires where fluke were captured

486 258 316 484

Angler trips where fluke were captured

1,376 521 652 1,196

Fluke captured 9,863 4,305 6,068 8,270

Fluke harvested 818 350 331 867

Harvested fluke lengths 686 310 287 596

Discarded fluke lengths 3,387 1,936 2,521 2,873

Target species

Primary target species for 2008-2010

0

0.1

0.2

0.3

0.4

0.5

0.6

Fluke Striped bass Bluefish Black seabass

Weakfish Everythingelse

Species

Pro

po

rtio

n o

f en

trie

s

Primary uses to date

• Length frequency data for regional stock assessments– Fluke– Black sea bass

• Development of fluke management strategies– Strategies not supported by MRIP data– Still requires MRIP effort data

• Not enough Wave 1 data to do anything with yet

• Many key species without much data

Harvest by mode for fluke

0.00

10.00

20.00

30.00

40.00

50.00

60.00

70.00

80.00

90.00

100.00

Party/charter Private/rental Shore

MRFSS 08 VAS 08 MRFSS 09 VAS 09

Harvest to catch ratio for fluke

Harvest rates - VAS vs MRFSS

0

0.02

0.04

0.06

0.08

0.1

0.12

2008 2009 2010 2011

Length (inch)

Per

cen

t o

f to

tal

harvest rates VAS harvest rates MRFSS

Fluke length frequencies

Length frequencies - VAS vs MRFSS

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28

Length (inch)

Per

cen

t o

f to

tal

MRFSS VAS kept

Length frequencies

Length frequencies - VAS vs MRFSS

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28

Length (inch)

Per

cen

t o

f to

tal

MRFSS VAS kept VAS all

Fluke catch frequency distribution

Percent trips by catch level

0.0

0.1

0.2

0.3

0.4

0.5

0.6

0.7

1 2 3 4 5 6

N Fish

Per

cen

t

MRFSS raw MRFSS expand VAS raw

Performance comparison - fluke

• 2009 NJ recreational fluke quota 809,000 fish = 2.8 million lbs

• MRIP estimated harvest– 107% of quota (revised)

• VAS estimated harvest– 110% of quota (effort data through 2009)

Future directions

• Roll striped bass and general surveys into single survey

• Outreach to increase participation

• Individual user accounts

• Annual summaries of reported data

• Increased IT and analytical staff support

Summary statistics