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Abstract:
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National Marine Fisheries Service collects data to estimate catch of recreational anglers. Currently, these data come from two surveys, a mail survey measuring effort (# of trips made in a given area) and an intercept survey measuring catch per unit effort (# of fish per trip by species). These data are combined to provide an estimate of total catch. An alternative data collection procedure that use self-reports from anglers submitted via electronic devices is under evaluation. The objective is to improve the quality and speed of estimation, and to reduce cost. The self-reported catches are from a convenience sample of anglers and may not be accurate. Thus these data are not used directly in estimation, but as auxiliary data to the sample of intercepts. The combined data can be used to produce several estimators. Their precision depends on several factors, such as reporting rate and the size of the dockside sample. we build an R package to investigate the effects of different factors, evaluate the tradeoff between reporting rate and the dockside sample size, and thus find the most cost-effective designs for various implementations of the pilot survey.
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