Areas are arranged in geographical order by subregion. For example, the option "North Atlantic by State" will give you catch for the five states listed after that option (Maine through Massachusetts) on a state-by state basis. The "North Atlantic" option will give you the catch summed across the five states.

Florida is divided into two regions (east and west) in our survey, as is California (southern and northern). Selection of "Florida" under either subregion will give you the total for the whole state. Options for "Pacific Coast by Sub-Region" (S. California, N. California, Oregon, and Washington) and "Atlantic Coast" (Maine to East Florida) have been added to this selection group.

MRFSS sampling began in Puerto Rico in 2000 (Caribbean subregion).

Type A catch are fish brought back to the dock in a form that can be identified by trained interviewers.

Type B1 catch are fish that are used for bait, released dead, or filleted -- i.e. they are killed but identification is by individual anglers.

Type B2 catch is fish that are released alive - again, identification is by individual anglers.
Thus,

• TOTAL CATCH = Type A + B1 + B2,
• HARVEST = Type A + B1,
• LANDINGS = Type A only,
• DISCARDS = Type B1 only, and
• RELEASED ALIVE = Type B2 only.

Length distributions are available for selected species by inch group.  Inches groups contain fish that were from X.00 to X.99 inches long. For example, inch group 9 means fish that are between 9.00 and 9.99 inches.  These lengths are FORK lengths.

Length distributions are based on cells (state/wave/fishing mode/fishing area/species) where at least 5 individual fish measurements were taken. Cells with 5 or less measurements are ignored (i.e. no substitute lengths are used as is done in some analyses. This was done so that distributions are not skewed by unrepresentative fishing modes, areas, or waves.

INLAND means inshore saltwater and brackish water bodies such as bays, estuaries, sounds, etc. It does not include inland freshwater areas.

STATE TERRITORIAL SEA is a zone extending three nautical miles from shore for all states except for Puerto Rico and the Gulf coast of Florida where the seaward boundary is 3 marine leagues (approximately 10 statute miles). The state territorial seas do not include inland areas.

STATE WATERS is the combination of inland and state territorial seas.

The FEDERAL EXCLUSIVE ECONOMIC ZONE (EEZ) is contiguous to the State Territorial Seas of all the United States and its possessions and extends seaward 200 nautical miles measured from the baseline from which the Territorial Sea is measured.

For a detailed breakdown of all modes, select ALL MODES BY MODE.

North Carolina is the only state to break SHORE mode into BEACH/BANK and MAN MADE.

The FOR-HIRE sector sampling varies over time.  To see detailed breakdown of for-hire modes, select ALL MODES BY MODE:

• 1981 – 1985:  PARTY/CHARTER mode only.  All for-hire boats (charter and head/party boat) were sampled as one category; a single PARTY/CHARTER mode estimate was produced (undifferentiated).
• 1986 - 2004:  PARTY/CHARTER mode continued in the Northeast states, Maine to Virginia.  In the Southeast (North Carolina to Florida and the Gulf of Mexico states), CHARTER BOATS (only) were sampled by MRFSS.  Party (head) boats are surveyed by Southeast Head Boat Logbook Program which began in 1986 (not presenting in these estimates).

Proportional Standard Error (PSE) is automatically included with requested information , with one exception.
The exception is the PSE for mean lengths.

• Calculations of mean lengths involve weighting mean lengths by the estimated number of fish in a cell (state/wave/fishing mode/fishing area/species).
• These calculations are quite complicated and rely on various assumptions.
• Because of the assumptions, it is better that these calculations be made on a case-by-case basis.
• Use of mean lengths is not as useful as length distributions and is not used widely.
• Because of its limited use, we do not expect the absence of the PSE to cause any problems or lead to incorrect conclusions about a fishery.

The PSE, or proportional standard error, expresses the standard error of an estimate as a percentage of the estimate and is a measure of precision.

• Precision refers to the dispersion of sample measurements used to calculate an estimate and the resulting variability in the estimate.
• Large PSEs indicate high variability around estimates and therefore low precision.
• It is desirable to have small PSE's and more precise estimates.
• There is a direct relationship between precision and sample size.
• When we group year, state, wave, or mode estimates, sample size increases and so does precision.
• Catch estimates for commonly caught species that show up in the marine recreational fishery often are more precise than for rare event or pulse fisheries.

Data users should consider the width of confidence intervals surrounding estimates before drawing any far-reaching conclusions from point estimates.

• A confidence interval is calculated as the estimate minus 1.96 times the standard error (the lower limit) and the estimate plus 1.96 times the standard error (the upper limit).
• A 95% confidence interval means we are 95% sure that the true value lies between the lower limit and the upper limit.

USE CAUTION WITH WEIGHT DATA

Weight estimates are minimums and may not reflect the actual total weight landed or harvested.

MRFSS weight estimates are calculated by multiplying the estimated number harvested in a cell (year/wave/state/mode/area/species) by the mean weight of the measured fish in that cell. Sometimes we have an estimate of harvest but no mean weight, either because

• the harvest is all reported by the anglers (B1), or
• because for some reason the interviewers couldn't weigh any fish (fish too big, already gutted and gilled, etc.).

If a cell is missing a mean weight, and if we have at least two fish measured in the state (all fishing areas and modes combined),

• We substitute the mean for the whole state for that wave.
• We need two measured fish to get a variance estimate.

After state substitution, if the mean weight is still missing,

• We use the mean from the whole subregion for that wave.

• The "two fish rule" still applies.

After subregional substitution, if the mean weight is STILL missing, we give up and leave a missing weight estimate. At that point,

• It is up to the user to determine whether to substitute, and
• What substitution is most appropriate to use (a mean from the preceding and following waves, the whole year, same wave over years, whole Atlantic & Gulf coast, some complicated regression model, whatever).
• We don't make those decisions because the information needs and sensitivity of the data vary among species.

The effort estimates (numbers of trips) for the Marine Recreational Fishery Statistics Survey are calculated based on a random sample of residents of households in coastal counties. The average number of recreational saltwater fishing trips per household is calculated and this average is expanded by the number of households in the county. The number of households is based on annual projections made by the Survey of Buying Power (Bill Communications). Official Census Bureau counts of households for the 2000 Census have been recently released and where these numbers differed with the projections, the count of households has been updated to reflect the Census Bureau figure. These updates will result in some small changes to the effort, and hence also to the catch, estimates.

2005-2006 Hurricane Katrina Update

On June 7, 2006, the United States Census Bureau published special estimates to assess the impact of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita on population and demographic characteristics of Gulf Coast communities (http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/emergencies/index.html).  These estimates are not considered part of the Census Bureau’s official estimate series.  Rather, they were produced using specially designed methodologies to assess the impacts of hurricane events on population sizes of affected counties (for a complete description of the methodology used by the Census Bureau, please refer to http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/emergencies/impacted_gulf_methodology.html). 
While not part of the official estimate series, these special estimates are the most accurate approximation of hurricane impacts on Gulf Coast populations.  As such, they have been incorporated into the procedures used to estimate recreational fishing effort and catch, beginning with wave 5 (September/October), 2005 and continuing through 2006.       

The MRFSS makes estimates of participation for three categories based on area of residence:

• From January-April and November-December, coastal county residence means anglers from counties within 25 miles of the coast.
• From May-October, coastal county residence means anglers from counties within 50 miles of the coast.
• In North Carolina, the coastal zones are within 50 and 100 miles of the coast, because of the fishing patterns in that state.
• Non-coastal counties are counties within the state but not in the defined coastal zone.
• Out-of-State means people from other states or countries who came to the state and fished.

Summing across categories and geographic areas:

• All participants are additive within a state.
• Coastal and non-coastal county residents are also additive across states and sub-regions.
• Out-of-state participants should NOT be added across states or regions.
• An out-of-state participant could have fished in more than one state that is not his or her state of residence.