Authority: The collection of this information is authorized under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (16 U.S.C. 1852 et. seq.) and the Atlantic Tunas Convention Act of 1975.
Purpose: Collection of recreational fisheries
This Regional Implementation Plan informs non-commercial data collection efforts in Hawaii, American Samoa, Guam, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.
The Marine Recreational Information Program publishes survey data and preliminary estimates approximately 45 days after the end of each 2-month sampling period (wave). Final estimates are published by April 15 of the following year.
The Marine Recreational Information Program maintains an online database of saltwater fishing access sites that serves as the sample frame for our shoreside survey of recreational anglers.
NOAA Fisheries’ Marine Recreational Information Program maintains public-use datasets and template programs to support the custom analysis of our recreational catch and effort data.
This webpage provides an overview of our recreational fishing catch and effort data products, estimate publication schedule, estimation review processes, and considerations for estimate use in stock assessments and fisheries management.
To estimate total recreational catch, we expand catch rate—or the number of fish caught per fishing trip—by effort—or the total number of fishing trips taken.