The Gulf States Marine Fisheries Commission, with support from NOAA Fisheries and other federal, regional, and state partners, is hosting a workshop to investigate new sampling approaches that will improve recreational released catch data, specifically data associated with discard rates in the private recreational sector. The meeting agenda and virtual meeting link will be available on the Gulf States Marine Fisheries Commission website under Upcoming Meetings and the NOAA Fisheries event page.

Where/When:

DoubleTree by Hilton (300 Canal Street, New Orleans, LA 70130), and virtual July 30 - August 1 from 8 a.m. – 5 p.m. CT

Why:

Inflation Reduction Act funding has been allocated for the Gulf States Marine Fisheries Commission to host a workshop to improve recreational fishing discard estimates. These estimates represent one of the greatest sources of uncertainty in total recreational catch.

IRA funding will be used to address scientific and management uncertainty in recreational catch statistics for red snapper and dozens of other species. Our joint intention is to set the gold standard for validation and improvement of state and federal recreational data collection to provide better measures of catch, effort, and discards. This will benefit millions of anglers in the world’s largest recreational fisheries.

This workshop will focus on improving recreational discard data in the Gulf of Mexico and U.S. South Atlantic. There is a large number of recreational discards for many species in the Southeast region that are managed with short fishing seasons. In addition, there is concern regarding the accuracy of species identification and numbers of released fish for data that are reported by anglers at the end of their fishing trip. During the workshop, we will discuss current fishery sampling challenges and receive presentations on potential new methods for collecting discard rate data. These projects could inform us on the sources of bias that may exist in existing surveys in the area of released catch.

Contacts:

Gregg Bray, Gulf States Marine Fisheries Commission, 228-232-0404, gbray@gsmfc.org

Frank Helies, NOAA Southeast Regional Office, 727-209-5988, Frank.Helies@noaa.gov