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Descriptions of Selected Fishery Landings and Estimates of Recreational Party and Charter Vessel Revenue from Areas: A Planning-level Assessment


Prepared by:
National Marine Fisheries Service


March 01, 2023



Ocean Wind

OCS-A 0498



Data sources:
Recreational fisheries landings data from vessel trip reports (VTR) for vessels issued a party/charter permit and marine angler expenditure surveys


In order to meet requirements of maintaining data confidentiality, these strata are presented individually. In addition, records that did not meet the rule of three ( >= 3 unique permits), values were summarized as ‘All Others’.

Some caveats/notes:

  • Values are reported in nominal dollars. Values in 2021 dollars are reported as well (see Methods below for details).
  • Landings are reported in number of fish kept on party/charter trips.
  • The term “angler trips” refers to the number of reported passengers on party/charter VTRs.
  • The party/charter VTRs contain some trips where no fish were landed. Although these trips do not contribute to the species summaries, they are included in the activity summaries of trips, angler trips, and revenues.
  • The term “vessel trips” refers to the number of party/charter VTRs submitted to NMFS where landings of any species were recorded.
  • Data summarized here are based on federal VTRs submitted to NMFS.
  • Numbers of individual fish species landed on party/charter trips are summarized by management categories as follows:
    • Northeast Multispecies; Bluefish; Mackerel, Squid, Butterfish; Golden and Blueline Tilefish; Summer Flounder, Scup, Black Sea Bass: Individual New England and Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council FMPs that require a party/charter permit
    • Other Federal FMPs: Individual New England and Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council FMPs that do not require a party/charter permit and have no recreational measures (Atlantic herring, Atlantic Sea Scallops, Monkfish, Spiny Dogfish, Skates, Red Crab, and Surfclams and Ocean Quahogs)
    • Atlantic HMS FMP: Atlantic billfish, Atlantic tunas, swordfish and sharks
    • ASMFC Interstate FMPs: Species managed exclusively under an ASMFC ISFMP (American Lobster, Atlantic Croaker, Cobia, Red Drum, Black Drum Spanish Mackerel, Spot, striped Bass, Spotted Sea Trout, Tautog, Weakfish and Coastal Sharks)
    • No Federal Plan: Species that are not managed under any Federal or ASMFC ISFMP
  • VTR data with missing coordinates have been removed.
  • The information reported for 2020 should be interpreted with caution due to the generalized impacts the COVID-19 pandemic had on passenger demand for party/charter trips across many fisheries in the Greater Atlantic Region resulting in an unusually low number of angler trips; hence reduced revenues from passenger fees for affected party/charter entities.
  • The number of small businesses changes over time both because of changes in affiliated ownership and fluctuations in revenue. For this reason, we use and report only the most recent three years’ revenue in the Small Business Analysis section of this report, consistent with historical guidance provided by the Small Business Administration.
  • Confidential data is listed as “Suppressed” or “All Others.”


References
DePiper GS (2014) Statistically assessing the precision of self-reported VTR fishing locations.
Benjamin S, Lee MY, DePiper G. 2018. Visualizing fishing data as rasters. NEFSC Ref Doc 18-12; 24 p.



Most Impacted Species By Management Category

The table below indicates the total number of fish kept from the area by Management Categories. The category “All Others” refers to categories with less than three permits impacted to protect data confidentiality.


Figure 1.1 Fish Count of Top Management Categories by Year, OCS-A 0498

Table 1.1 Total Fish Count for Management Categories, OCS-A 0498
Management Categories Fourteen Year Fish Count
Summer Flounder, Scup, Black Sea Bass FMP 3,267
All Others 726
ASMFC Interstate FMPs 567
Bluefish FMP 321
No Federal FMP 321
Other Federal FMP 173
Northeast Multispecies FMP 26
Total 5,401



Most Impacted Species

We analyzed the top eight species most frequently kept on recreational party/charter trips in the area and to isolate them from combined FMPs. The top eight species by the total number of fish kept are: All Others, Black Sea Bass, Bluefish, Sea Robins, Skates, Summer Flounder, Tautog and Triggerfish . The category “All Others” refers to species with less than three permits impacted to protect data confidentiality.


Figure 2.1 Fish Count of Top Species, OCS-A 0498

Table 2.1 Fish Count, Most Impacted Species, OCS-A 0498
Species Fourteen Year Fish Count
Black Sea Bass 2,518
All Others 952
Summer Flounder 630
Bluefish 321
Tautog 128
Triggerfish 32
Sea Robins 24
Skates 0
Total 4,605



Total Party/Charter Activity by Year

We analyzed the total revenue of party/charter trips by year by multiplying the annual mean combined charter and party for-hire fee of each state by the total number of anglers for each year (See Methods section). Revenue values have been deflated to 2019 dollars. All numbers have been rounded to the nearest thousand.


Table 3.1 Total Party/Charter Revenue by Year, OCS-A 0498

Year Annual Revenue
2008 $5,000
2009 $11,000
2010 $6,000
2011 $17,000
2012 $82,000
2013 $5,000
2014 $12,000
2015 $16,000
2016 $19,000
2017 $16,000
2018 $44,000
2019 $22,000
2020 $31,000
2021 $7,000
Total $294,000



Number of Vessel Trips by Port

The table below indicate the total number of trips within the area by year and port. The category “Other Ports, XX” refers to ports with less than three permits to protect data confidentiality.


Table 4.1 Total Number of Vessel Trips by Port and Year, OCS-A 0498

Port 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021
Other Ports, NJ 9 14 9 11 31 10 10 10 35 36 25 23 13 6
Atlantic City, NJ 0 0 0 4 0 0 8 7 0 0 0 0 0 0
Other Ports, MD 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 0 0 0
No Port Data 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 1 0 3
Sea Isle City, NJ 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 19 0 0 0
Total 9 14 9 15 31 10 18 20 35 36 46 24 13 9



Number of Angler Trips by Port

The table below indicate the total number of angler trips from the area by year and port. The category “Other Ports, XX” refers to ports with less than three permits to protect data confidentiality.


Table 4.2 Total Number of Angler Trips by Port and Year, OCS-A 0498

Port 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021
Other Ports, NJ 71 143 78 153 953 57 80 79 204 171 334 231 336 80
Atlantic City, NJ 0 0 0 46 0 0 49 45 0 0 0 0 0 0
Other Ports, MD 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 47 0 0 0 0 0 0
No Port Data 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 20 29 0 14
Sea Isle City, NJ 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 142 0 0 0
Total 71 143 78 199 953 57 129 171 204 171 496 260 336 94



Percentage of Angler Trips by Permit

We analyzed the percentage of each permit’s total angler trips coming from within OCS-A 0498 area (see boxplot figure and table below). Boxplots are important statistical summaries because they provide information about the distribution of the percentages. The boxplots below begin at the 1st quartile, or the value beneath which 25 percent of all observations fall. A thick line within the box identifies the median, the observation at which 50 percent of observations are above or beneath. The box ends at the 3rd quartile, or the observation beneath which 75 percent of observations fall. Nonparametric estimates of the minimum and maximum values are also indicated by the “whiskers” (dashed line terminating in a vertical line) that jut out from each side of the box. Any points outside of these whiskers are observations that are considered outliers. In our table , however, the maximum values are inclusive of outliers. The table below presents the minimum, 1st quartile, median, 3rd quartile, and maximum values for the area. These are the fourteen year angler trip percentages. The boxplot in the figure below further separate the area out by year.


Table 5.1 Fourteen Year Summary of Permit Angler Trip Revenue Percent, OCS-A 0498

Area Min 1st Quartile Median 3rd Quartile Max
OCS-A 0498 0.16% 3% 5% 12% 100%


Figure 5.1 Annual Permit Angler Trip Percentage Boxplots, OCS-A 0498




Small Business Analysis

A business primarily engaged in for-hire recreational fishing activities is classified as a small business if it is independently owned and operated, is not dominant in its field of operation (including its affiliates) and has combined annual receipts not in excess of $8 million for all its affiliated operations worldwide. Small Business Administration principles of affiliation are used to define a business entity, meaning the following analysis is conducted upon unique business interests, which can represent multiple vessel permits. As such, this section presents the total number of entities, by business category, and the total revenue generated by that business category in Table 6.1. For those businesses with historical fishing within the OCS-A 0498 area, Table 6.2 presents the revenue generated inside the OCS-A 0498 area against the total revenue from those same entities. Revenue values have been deflated to 2019 dollars. All numbers have been rounded to the nearest thousand.


Table 6.1 Total number of entities engaged in federally managed fishing within the Northeast region, and their total revenue, by business category
Year Business Type Number of Entities Revenue
2019 Small Business 319 $71,987,000
2020 Small Business 332 $82,995,000
2021 Small Business 409 $107,933,000
Table 6.2 Revenue inside the OCS-A 0498 area against total revenue from entities active inside the OCS-A 0498 area, by business category
Year Business Type Number of Entities Area Revenue Total Revenue
2021 Small Business 3 $7,000 $434,000



Species Dependence

The tables below indicate party/charter vessel and angler trips, occurring within the area of interest, as a percentage of totals generated by party/charter vessel and angler trips across the entire region by year and the top eight species deriving the most fish kept from the area by year. The category “All Others” refers to species with less than three permits impacted to protect data confidentiality.


Table 7.1 Annual Party Vessel Trips, Angler Trips, and Number of Vessels in the OCS-A 0498, as a Percent of Total Northeast Region Party/Charter
Year Vessel Trips as % of Total Angler Trips as % of Total Number of Vessels as % of Total
2008 0.03 2.12 1.06
2009 0.05 6.38 1.06
2010 0.03 1.47 0.73
2011 0.05 1.96 1.62
2012 0.10 10.83 1.20
2013 0.03 4.51 0.54
2014 0.06 1.55 1.52
2015 0.07 6.57 1.59
2016 0.13 11.30 1.34
2017 0.15 14.16 1.18
2018 0.19 15.90 2.12
2019 0.10 28.11 0.66
2020 0.06 11.08 0.70
2021 0.04 6.88 0.65
Table 7.2 Fourteen Year Total Fish Count for Top Eight Species as a Percent of Total, OCS-A 0498
Species Fish Count as % of Total
Triggerfish 0.07
Summer Flounder 0.06
Black Sea Bass 0.05
Tautog 0.03
Sea Robins 0.01
Bluefish 0.01


Methods

NOAA Fisheries conducted their first marine angler expenditure survey in 1998 (Steinback and Gentner 2001; Gentner, Price, and Steinback 2001). Additional surveys were conducted in 2006 (Gentner, Price, and Steinback 2008), 2011 (Lovell Steinback, and Hilger 2013), and 2017 (Lovell et al 2020). For-hire passenger fee data collected from these surveys provided the baseline for calculating average annual fees by region/state from 1997 to 2019.

Linear extrapolation was used to estimate average for-hire fees for years with no survey data. For example, in Steinback and Gentner (2001), the average for-hire fee in Maine in 1998 was $46.20. The next angler expenditure survey, conducted in 2006, found the average for-hire fee in Maine was $63.65 (see Gentner, Price, and Steinback 2008). To calculate average fees for the years between 1998 and 2006 we simply extrapolated linearly between the two known data points. This same procedure was used to extrapolate values for all years between the four survey years.

Average for-hire fees in 1997, the year preceding the first survey, and in the two years following the last survey (2018 and 2019), were calculated using industry specific Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) output deflators. Specifically, we used BEA output deflators shown for Amusement, Gambling, and Recreation Industries (North American Industry Classification System code 713000), which include recreational fishing guide services. Nominal values were converted to 2019 dollars using the same BEA output deflators.

For further information email Scott Steinback, Economist, NOAA Fisheries, Northeast Fisheries Science Center ().

Steinback, S. and B. Gentner. 2001. “Marine Angler Expenditures in the Northeast Region, 1998”. U.S. Dept. of Commerce. NOAA Tech. Memo. NMFS-F/SPO-47. Gentner, B., M. Price, and S. Steinback. 2001. “Marine Angler Expenditures in the Southeast Region, 2001”. U.S. Dept. of Commerce. NOAA Tech. Memo. NMFS-F/SPO-48 Gentner, Brad, and Scott Steinback. 2008. The Economic Contribution of Marine Angler Expenditures in the United States, 2006.U.S. Dep. Commerce, NOAA Tech. Memo. NMFS-F/SPO-94, 301 p. Lovell, Sabrina, Scott Steinback, and James Hilger. 2013. The Economic Contribution of Marine Angler Expenditures in the United States, 2011. U.S. Dep. Commerce, NOAA Tech. Memo. NMFS-F/SPO-134, 188 p.  Lovell, Sabrina, James Hilger, Emily Rollins, Noelle A. Olsen, and Scott Steinback. 2020. The Economic Contribution of Marine Angler Expenditures on Fishing Trips in the United States, 2017. U.S. Dep. Commerce, NOAA Tech. Memo. NMFS-F/SPO-201, 80 p.