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
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0.1
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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
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f to
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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
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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
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f to
tal
MRFSS VAS kept VAS all
Fluke catch frequency distribution
Percent trips by catch level
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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