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
November 21, 2024
OCS-A
0549
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 2023 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 0549
| Management Categories | Sixteen Year Fish Count |
|---|---|
| Summer Flounder, Scup, Black Sea Bass FMP | 30,234 |
| ASMFC Interstate FMPs | 1,788 |
| Northeast Multispecies FMP | 1,621 |
| All Others | 1,565 |
| Bluefish FMP | 1,524 |
| No Federal FMP | 627 |
| Other Federal FMP | 66 |
| Mackerel, Squid, and Butterfish FMP | 48 |
| Total | 37,473 |
Most Impacted Species
We analyzed the top ten species most frequently kept on recreational party/charter trips in the area and to isolate them from combined FMPs. The top ten species by the total number of fish kept are: Sea Bass,Black, Flounder,Summer, All Others, Bluefish, Hake,Red, Tautog, Scup, Sea Robins, Cod and Triggerfish. The category “All Others” refers to species with less than three permits impacted to protect data confidentiality.Additional species outside of the top ten include: Cunner, Dogfish Smooth, Dogfish Spiny, Mackerel,Chub, Pout,Ocean and Skates.
Figure 2.1 Fish Count of Top Species, OCS-A 0549
| Species | Sixteen Year Fish Count |
|---|---|
| Sea Bass,Black | 24,201 |
| Flounder,Summer | 5,214 |
| All Others | 2,943 |
| Bluefish | 1,524 |
| Hake,Red | 1,423 |
| Tautog | 1,200 |
| Scup | 426 |
| Sea Robins | 280 |
| Cod | 66 |
| Triggerfish | 66 |
| Total | 37,343 |
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 2023 dollars. All numbers have been rounded to the nearest thousand.Suppressed years have been set to 0 when calculating the total.
Table 3.1 Total Party/Charter Revenue by Year, OCS-A 0549
| Year | Annual Revenue |
|---|---|
| 2008 | $35,000 |
| 2009 | $33,000 |
| 2010 | $234,000 |
| 2011 | $29,000 |
| 2012 | $130,000 |
| 2013 | $133,000 |
| 2014 | $38,000 |
| 2015 | $79,000 |
| 2016 | $92,000 |
| 2017 | $19,000 |
| 2018 | $330,000 |
| 2019 | $456,000 |
| 2020 | $370,000 |
| 2021 | Suppressed |
| 2022 | $116,000 |
| 2023 | $46,000 |
| Total | $2,138,000 |
Number of Vessel Trips by Port
The table below indicate the total number of trips within the area by year and port. Data for ports that cannot be displayed due to confidentiality protection or because no known port was reported are displayed as “All Other Ports” for the affiliated landing state.
Table 4.1 Total Number of Vessel Trips by Port and Year, OCS-A 0549
| Port | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| All Other Ports, NJ | 20 | 19 | 14 | 10 | 17 | 7 | 8 | 6 | 7 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 5 | 25 | 29 | 20 |
| Long Beach, NJ | 12 | 6 | 3 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| All Other Ports, NY | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Barnegat, NJ | 0 | 9 | 78 | 22 | 46 | 63 | 28 | 35 | 49 | 14 | 97 | 147 | 109 | 0 | 16 | 14 |
| Barnegat Light, NJ | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| No State or Port Data | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Total | 32 | 35 | 95 | 37 | 64 | 70 | 36 | 41 | 56 | 19 | 105 | 153 | 115 | 25 | 46 | 34 |
Number of Angler Trips by Port
The table below indicate the total number of angler trips from the area by year and port. Data for ports that cannot be displayed due to confidentiality protection or because no known port was reported are displayed as “All Other Ports” for the affiliated landing state.
Table 4.2 Total Number of Angler Trips by Port and Year, OCS-A 0549
| Port | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| All Other Ports, NJ | 127 | 99 | 78 | 48 | 131 | 50 | 44 | 34 | 94 | 21 | 27 | 71 | 66 | 270 | 649 | 174 |
| Long Beach, NJ | 333 | 104 | 37 | 34 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| All Other Ports, NY | 0 | 54 | 0 | 0 | 65 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Barnegat, NJ | 0 | 141 | 2,676 | 257 | 1,249 | 1,409 | 370 | 812 | 873 | 171 | 3,047 | 3,872 | 2,946 | 0 | 161 | 145 |
| Barnegat Light, NJ | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 19 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| No State or Port Data | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 14 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| Total | 460 | 398 | 2,791 | 339 | 1,445 | 1,459 | 414 | 846 | 967 | 192 | 3,093 | 3,943 | 3,026 | 270 | 813 | 319 |
Percentage of Angler Trips by Permit
We analyzed the percentage of each permit’s total angler trips coming from within OCS-A 0549 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 sixteen year angler trip percentages. The boxplot in the figure below further separate the area out by year.
Table 5.1 Sixteen Year Summary of Permit Angler Trip Revenue Percent, OCS-A 0549
| Area | Min | 1st Quartile | Median | 3rd Quartile | Max |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| OCS-A 0549 | 0.24% | 2% | 6% | 11% | 97% |
Figure 5.1 Annual Permit Angler Trip Percentage Boxplots, OCS-A 0549
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 0549 area, Table 6.2 presents the revenue generated inside the OCS-A 0549 area against the total revenue from those same entities. Revenue values have been deflated to 2023 dollars. All numbers have been rounded to the nearest thousand.
| Year | Business Type | Number of Entities | Revenue |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | Small Business | 330 | $118,023,000 |
| 2022 | Small Business | 394 | $131,086,000 |
| 2023 | Small Business | 456 | $132,971,000 |
| YEAR | Business Type | Number of Entities | Area Revenue | Total Revenue |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | Small Business | 8 | $298,000 | $1,848,000 |
| 2023 | Small Business | 6 | $103,000 | $390,000 |
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 ten 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.
Not enough activity to create table: Table 7.1 Annual Party
Vessel Trips, Angler Trips, and Number of Vessels within the OCS-A 0549
area, as a Percent of Total Northeast Region Party/Charter
| Species | Fish Count as % of Total |
|---|---|
| Flounder,Summer | 0.45 |
| Sea Bass,Black | 0.41 |
| Tautog | 0.21 |
| Sea Robins | 0.14 |
| Triggerfish | 0.14 |
| Pout,Ocean | 0.12 |
| Skates | 0.08 |
| Hake,Red | 0.06 |
| Dogfish Spiny | 0.05 |
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 (Scott.Steinback@noaa.gov).
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.