In the July edition of The Fisherman – on newsstands now or perhaps on your coffee table – I wrote a pretty lengthy fisheries management piece on page 8 of the glossy section called Management Mumbo Jumbo: Fisheries Reform & Sector Separation. The sector separation concept under review at the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council (Council) and Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (Commission) is a doozy, with the potential of becoming bitterly divisive.
Essentially, members of the for-hire community with federal permits that allow them to take anglers fishing in federal waters for black sea bass, fluke, porgies and bluefish are required to keep daily catch logs through electronic vessel trip reporting (eVTR) software. Private anglers on the other hand are monitored via the Marine Recreational Information Program or MRIP, a random survey that doesn’t offer anything close to the accuracy of the daily eVTR data. As I noted in the article, this rather significant disconnect in recreational catch data is what has led to the sector separation debate.
MRIP is broken, as acknowledged by NOAA Fisheries in 2023 when the agency admitted that their fishing effort survey is filled with “reporting errors and illogical responses” resulting in an over-estimation of angler effort by as much as 30 to 40%. While the federal fisheries service said they’re working on correcting the problem, a new pilot project developed by the Atlantic Coastal Cooperative Statistics Program (ACCSP) and its Recreational Technical Committee is now looking at private angler “catch cards” to fill in the gaps in our released fish.
The pilot project launched in May runs through December 2025 with participating states including Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia. The primary focus is to capture released fish data from private and rental boats, although ACCSP said states may also choose to collect data from shorebound anglers as well.
“The magnitude of recreational discards has grown over the last decade(s) and may even comprise the largest source of mortality in some stocks,” said NOAA Fisheries’ biologist Dr. Matthew Nuttal. According to ACCSP, while for-hire captains actively monitor and document observed releases, private anglers provide limited length data for released catch, if any. “Released fish are not observable at the dock through in-person catch surveys, so these data often remain unverified,” said Nuttall, explaining how this complicates the use of recreational catch data in stock assessments.
Before selected pilot project anglers start fishing, field interviewers will provide them with waterproof catch cards, a measuring tape, pencil, and a brief project overview. Among other bits of detail like date and mode (private/rental boat, shore), these catch cards will also collect hours and areas fished, trip start and end time, number of fish released per species, and size of the fish.
“Once anglers complete their trips and record their released catch data, they can drop their pre-paid postage catch card in the mail; return the catch card directly to the state survey interviewer if still on site; or email a picture of the card via the state-specific email at the bottom of every card,” ACCSP noted, adding that they will use the results to help determine whether or not to extend the project into 2026, and analyze potential future implementation.
“Future implementation” is the key takeaway here. As part of the sector separation discussion at the Council and Commission this summer, fisheries managers are considering the future of “catch accounting” in the angling community. While ACCSP is piloting one method of understanding released fish, these “catch cards” could someday be in the hands of every captain, private or professional, much as it is now with HMS reporting, and similar to what New Jersey’s Bureau of Marine Fisheries is doing on a volunteer basis this season.
Suffice to say, detailed daily fishing logs and catch cards may be the future of recreational fishing.
