As you’ll see in our news briefs (20% Increase In Sea Bass, Fluke & Porgy Stay The Same) it’s mostly good news from a fisheries management perspective this season. At the next meeting of the New Jersey Marine Fisheries Council at 5 p.m. on March 26th at the Stafford Township Firehouse in Manahawkin you can expect heavy discussion on the sea bass front in terms of season, size and bag limit options and adjustments. In other words, this is one of those “speak now or forever hold your peace” moments in terms of how the 20% increase gets applied.
Our coastal fisheries are mostly managed by quotas, harvest limits and statistical mortality rates, with any increase/decrease decisions at the fisheries management level based primarily on recreational harvest data compiled through the Marine Recreational Information Program, or MRIP. MRIP is an updated angler survey methodology which replaced the old system called MRFSS, aka the Marine Recreational Fishing Statistical Survey.
A new fishing effort survey component of MRIP is being rolled out by NOAA Fisheries this season to address reporting errors and data collection flaws that were publicly acknowledged by the federal fisheries service in 2023. As NOAA’s Evan Howell said at the time, “Lowering the reporting error rate should ultimately produce more accurate data and resulting estimates of effort.”
From MRFSS to MRIP, it’s really been one “reporting error” after another. But is there a better way to more accurately monitor angler catch and effort? Sure, if you to do what the North Carolinians are doing. This year, those who fish recreationally in North Carolina must report every flounder, red drum, striped bass, speckled trout, and weakfish that they catch and keep directly to the state’s Division of Marine Fisheries.
That harvest reporting is done electronically through an online web form or soon-to-be released phone app. North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission Inland Fisheries Chief Corey Oakley explained how this reporting should help fisheries managers better understand harvest rates. Rather than pure random sampling like MRIP, this real-time reporting process – if everyone follows the rule – theoretically should provide actual harvest data from each and every saltwater angler.
A good example of how fisheries managers get tripped up by MRIP unpredictability is the recent debate over striped bass. Technical staffers at the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) had originally assumed that mortality rates would increase in 2025, which they believed would negatively impact the rebuild trajectory. As ASMFC noted last year, “Short-term projections estimate an increase in fishing mortality in 2025 due to the above average 2018 year-class entering the current recreational ocean slot limit combined with the lack of strong year-classes behind it.”
However, when ASMFC met for the final striper vote in October, commission members were presented with preliminary MRIP data through June of ’25 showing how recreational striped bass removals were actually 44% lower than during the same timeframe as ‘24. So while many anglers assumed that a seasonal striper closure was a foregone conclusion for ‘26, as noted in our December edition the actual MRIP data “dinged the previous ASMFC forecast of increased recreational harvest and release mortality which was the entire basis for the proposed 12% reduction.”
MRIP is as much of a mess as MRFSS, and the only real alternative may ultimately be mandatory angler reporting like they’re doing in North Carolina; same with the tilefish fishery as well, and with highly migratory species like bluefin tuna. It’s all quite similar to what federally permitted for-hire boats do through electronic vessel trip reports, which is essentially at the core of the recreational sector separation debate currently underway at the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council, which meets again via webinar from February 10-11.
It’s something to keep an eye on!
