National Marine Fisheries Service’s Marine Recreational Information Program Survey Design and Statistical Methods for Estimation of Recreational Fisheries Catch and Effort Prepared by: Katherine J. Papacostas, ECS Federal, LLC and John Foster, NOAA-NMFS Acknowledgements The following members of MRIP’s Research and Evaluation Team and Survey Operations Team are gratefully thanked for their review of, and contributions to, this report: Rob Andrews, Lauren Dolinger Few, Yong-Woo Lee, Daemian Schrieber, Tom Sminkey, Lucas Johansen, Ryan Kitts-Jensen, and Dave Van Voorhees. Table of Contents 1. Introduction ........................................................................................................................ 1 2. The Access Point Angler Intercept Survey (APAIS): Catch Rates .............................. 7 2.1 Sampling Design ................................................................................................................. 7 2.1.1 Stratification Variables .................................................................................................... 7 2.1.2 Design Stages ................................................................................................................... 9 2.1.3 Sample Frame: Public Access Fishing Site Register .................................................... 10 2.1.4 Clustering Methods ........................................................................................................ 10 2.1.5 Sample Selection ............................................................................................................ 11 2.1.6 Headboat Sampling Design............................................................................................ 13 2.2 Imputation Methods for Missing Values ........................................................................... 14 2.3 APAIS Estimation Methods ............................................................................................... 15 2.3.1 Final Sample Weight...................................................................................................... 16 2.3.2 Standard Catch Rate Estimation .................................................................................... 18 2.3.3 FES Coverage Adjustment for Out-of-Frame Angler-Trips .......................................... 19 2.3.4 FHS Coverage Adjustment for Out-of-Frame Angler-Trips ......................................... 20 2.3.5 Legacy CHTS Coverage Adjustment for Out-of-Frame Angler-Trips .......................... 20 2.3.6 Area Fished Proportions for Private Boat and Shore Mode Effort ................................ 21 2.4 APAIS Certification Status ................................................................................................ 22 3. The Fishing Effort Survey (FES): Shore and Private Boat Fishing Effort ............... 23 3.1 Sampling Design ............................................................................................................... 23 3.2 Data Collection Design..................................................................................................... 24 3.3 Data Editing ...................................................................................................................... 24 3.4 Estimation Methods .......................................................................................................... 25 3.4.1 FES Weighting ............................................................................................................... 25 3.4.2 Private Boat and Shore Fishing Effort Estimation ......................................................... 27 3.5 FES Certification Status ................................................................................................... 27 4. Legacy Coastal Household Telephone Survey (CHTS) Design: Shore and Private Boat Fishing Effort ..................................................................................................................... 28 4.1 Sampling Design ............................................................................................................... 28 4.2 Data Collection Design..................................................................................................... 29 4.3 Imputation Methods for Missing Values ........................................................................... 30 4.4 Estimation Methods .......................................................................................................... 30 4.4.1 Winsorization ............................................................................................................... 31 4.4.2 Private Boat and Shore Fishing Effort Estimation ....................................................... 31 4.5 CHTS Certification Status................................................................................................. 31 5. The For-Hire Survey (FHS): For-Hire Fishing Effort ................................................ 32 5.1 Sampling Design ............................................................................................................... 32 5.1.2 Stratification Variables and Sample Frame ................................................................... 32 5.1.3 Sample Selection ............................................................................................................ 33 5.2 Data Collection Design..................................................................................................... 33 5.3 Vessel Trip Reports (VTRs) ............................................................................................... 34 5.4 Estimation Methods .......................................................................................................... 35 5.4.1 For-Hire Fishing Effort Estimation ................................................................................ 35 5.4.2 Dockside Validation and Adjustment for Reporting Error ............................................ 36 5.5 FHS Certification Status ................................................................................................... 41 6. Total Catch and Effort Estimation: Combining the Estimate Components from the APAIS, FES, CHTS and FHS .................................................................................................... 42 6.1 Total Effort Estimation ..................................................................................................... 42 6.1.1 FES Total Effort ............................................................................................................. 42 6.1.2 CHTS Total Effort ......................................................................................................... 43 6.1.3 For-Hire Effort – Combining VTR Data with FHS Data ............................................. 44 6.2. Total Catch Estimation .................................................................................................... 47 6.2.1 Standard Total Catch Estimation ................................................................................... 47 6.2.2 Alternative Total Catch Estimation for Small Sample Sizes ......................................... 48 6.2.3 Total Catch Estimation for Public Use Datasets ............................................................ 49 6.3. Length-Frequencies ....................................................................................................... 51 6.4 MRIP Estimation Certification Status .............................................................................. 52 7. Large Pelagics Survey (LPS): Large Pelagics and HMS Catch and Fishing Effort .. 53 7.1 Large Pelagics Telephone Survey (LPTS): Large Pelagics and HMS Fishing Effort ..... 53 7.1.1 LPTS-Private Sampling Design ..................................................................................... 54 7.1.2 Data Collection Design .................................................................................................. 54 7.1.3 LPTS Charter Boat Sampling General Protocols (Add-on to the FHS) ........................ 54 7.1.4 LPTS Imputation ............................................................................................................ 55 7.1.5 LPTS Estimation Methods ............................................................................................. 55 7.2 Large Pelagics Intercept Survey (LPIS): Large Pelagics and HMS Catch Rates ............ 56 7.2.1 LPIS Sampling Design ................................................................................................... 56 7.2.2 Data Collection Design .................................................................................................. 58 7.2.3 LPIS Estimation Methods .............................................................................................. 58 7.3 LPS Total Effort and Catch Estimation ............................................................................ 59 7.3.1 LPS Total Effort ............................................................................................................. 59 7.3.2 LPS Total Catch ............................................................................................................. 60 7.4 Large Pelagics Biological Survey (LPBS) ........................................................................ 61 7.5 LPS Certification Status .................................................................................................... 61 8. Time-Series Calibration Methods .................................................................................