Marine Recreational Information ProgramSelf-Guided Training Presentation

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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

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Why MRIP?

Better data is not an end to itselfBetter 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

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Why Rec Fishing Matters, and To Whom By the Numbers

100 million

Up to 24.7 million

$82.3 billion

534,000

anglers

trips

in sales

jobs

taking

generating

creating

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Importance of Recreational Fishing

Local jobs

Bait and tackle

Hospitality

Marine

Travel and tourism

Cultural heritage

Stewardship of marine resources

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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

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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

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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

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Learn More

www.countmyfish.noaa.gov

How do Scientists Count Catch?

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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

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Sampling

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

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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

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Catch

Determined through direct observation

Samplers go to docks, fishing piers, marinas, beaches to measure a random sampling of fish being caught

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Effort

Phone surveys

Ask anglers how often they’ve been fishing in the past 2 months

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Specialized Surveys

Tailored to unique angler groups

For-Hire Survey

Large Pelagic Survey

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Employ statistically proven methods to apply sampling data to the whole population of fishermen

What Surveys Have in Common

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Putting It All Together

Combining estimates of ‘catch’

with

Estimates of ‘effort’

enables scientists to

Estimate the size of fish stocks

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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

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Most Important Factor

Participation of recreational fishermen in the surveys and sampling

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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

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Techniques Used Every Day

Determining how many viewers are tuned into a particular TV show

Predicting the outcomes of presidential elections

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Learn More

www.countmyfish.noaa.gov

Why is MRIP Important?

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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

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Importance of Recreational Fishermen

Lifeblood of local economies

Bait and tackle shops

Boat sales

Restaurants

Hotels

Other businesses

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Importance of Recreational Fishermen

Significant user of the resource

Larger than commercial harvest for many species

Striped bass

Bluefish

Tautog

Black rockfish

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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

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Importance of Recreational Fishermen

Through participation in MRIP programs, anglers are invaluable contributors to marine science

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Learn More

www.countmyfish.noaa.gov

What Will MRIP Achieve?

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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Learn More

www.countmyfish.noaa.gov

How is MRIP Structured?

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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

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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

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Addressing the Challenge

Magnuson-Stevens Act

Federal fisheries legislation has provided the mandate to implement the recommendations made by NRC

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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

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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

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MRIP

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

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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

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Learn More

www.countmyfish.noaa.gov

How Will MRIP Be Implemented?

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Implementation

MRIP is being implemented in three concurrent phases

Evaluation

Innovation

Activation

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Implementation

Evaluation

Examination of current sampling and estimation methods

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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

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Implementation

Activation

Meeting customer needs for precision and resolution

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Implementation

Concurrent approach

To ensure improvements in data collection happen as efficiently as possible, the three phases are occurring simultaneously

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Learn More

www.countmyfish.noaa.gov

Conclusion

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Conclusion

The most important things to know about MRIP:

MRIP a process

MRIP is not a “silver bullet”

MRIP is a partnership

MRIP impacts lives and livelihoods

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Conclusion

Key takeaways:

What MRIP is

Why MRIP is important

How MRIP is being implemented

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Learn More

www.countmyfish.noaa.gov