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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


April 30, 2024



All Atlantic Wind Lease Areas



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 2022 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, All Atlantic Wind Lease Areas

Table 1.1 Total Fish Count for Management Categories, All Atlantic Wind Lease Areas
Management Categories Fifteen Year Fish Count
Summer Flounder, Scup, Black Sea Bass FMP 390,190
Northeast Multispecies FMP 101,590
ASMFC Interstate FMPs 31,518
Bluefish FMP 25,287
No Federal FMP 14,823
Mackerel, Squid, and Butterfish FMP 7,962
Other Federal FMP 2,610
Highly Migratory Species FMP 1,831
All Others 1,068
Total 576,879



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: Black Sea Bass, Scup, Cod, Summer Flounder, Bluefish, Red Hake, Tautog, Haddock, Striped Bass and All Others . 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: Atlantic Croaker, Atlantic Mackerel, Blue Shark, Bluefin Tuna, Bonito, Chub Mackerel, Clearnose Skate, Conger Eel, Cunner, Cusk, Dogfish Smooth, Dogfish Spiny, Dolphinfish, Dusky Shark, Hake Mix Red & White, Little Tuna, Mako Shortfin Shark, Marlin White, Monkfish, Northern Puffer, Ocean Pout, Other Fish, Pollock, Redfish, Sandbar Shark, Sculpins, Sea Raven, Sea Robins, Silver Hake, Skates, Skipjack Tuna, Spanish Mackerel, Spotted Weakfish, Squeteague Weakfish, Thresher Shark, Triggerfish, Unknown, White Hake, Winter Flounder and Yellowfin Tuna.


Figure 2.1 Fish Count of Top Species, All Atlantic Wind Lease Areas

Table 2.1 Fish Count, Most Impacted Species, All Atlantic Wind Lease Areas
Species Fifteen Year Fish Count
Black Sea Bass 251,417
Scup 93,560
Cod 62,347
Summer Flounder 45,213
Bluefish 25,287
Red Hake 21,929
Tautog 16,872
Haddock 10,624
Striped Bass 10,298
All Others 6,316
Total 543,863



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 2022 dollars. All numbers have been rounded to the nearest thousand.


Table 3.1 Total Party/Charter Revenue by Year, All Atlantic Wind Lease Areas

Year Annual Revenue
2008 $605,000
2009 $570,000
2010 $1,348,000
2011 $1,018,000
2012 $1,065,000
2013 $840,000
2014 $698,000
2015 $792,000
2016 $939,000
2017 $757,000
2018 $1,009,000
2019 $1,037,000
2020 $966,000
2021 $891,000
2022 $793,000
Total $13,327,000



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, All Atlantic Wind Lease Areas

Port 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022
All Other Ports, MA 11 6 48 42 28 21 9 12 128 31 19 49 17 35 6
All Other Ports, ME 1 1 0 1 1 1 0 1 2 1 1 0 0 0 0
All Other Ports, NJ 74 82 47 40 101 41 33 43 96 55 66 69 56 67 87
All Other Ports, NY 13 7 53 15 10 7 19 19 17 15 36 83 11 80 44
All Other Ports, RI 12 13 14 13 0 7 60 102 99 87 2 9 4 9 5
All Other Ports, VA 2 1 6 5 0 0 1 1 0 0 4 0 2 0 1
Barnegat, NJ 3 23 92 27 52 70 32 43 53 18 100 150 111 0 6
Cape May, NJ 160 135 136 139 199 207 222 176 126 44 14 36 56 76 37
Indian River, DE 18 14 42 40 14 9 8 7 22 24 12 0 0 60 35
Lewes, DE 60 12 22 19 26 22 20 32 20 24 29 0 0 0 0
Long Beach, NJ 19 14 14 13 0 0 7 4 0 0 7 0 0 0 0
Montauk, NY 104 100 159 221 126 79 63 76 24 84 94 130 184 95 189
Ocean City, MD 30 18 24 14 14 19 8 12 16 12 28 12 11 7 16
Point Judith, RI 42 41 59 60 49 77 60 34 42 93 16 12 9 19 36
Point Pleasant, NJ 6 0 12 4 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 0 0 7
Sea Isle City, NJ 6 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 30 29 0 0 0 0
Virginia Beach, VA 19 0 0 0 12 10 12 10 18 17 8 9 11 21 15
Wildwood, NJ 9 17 4 0 0 6 0 9 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
All Other Ports, DE 0 2 0 0 1 0 1 3 2 3 0 15 11 20 28
All Other Ports, NH 0 1 6 3 2 0 3 2 3 0 2 1 0 2 0
Atlantic City, NJ 0 23 20 59 60 31 73 61 0 0 0 0 0 0 7
Avalon, NJ 0 18 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Margate, NJ 0 7 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
All Other Ports, CT 0 0 6 2 1 0 1 2 1 7 21 2 4 7 5
Freeport, NY 0 0 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 56 0 79 0 14
Hampton, NH 0 0 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Babylon(Captree), NY 0 0 0 5 0 9 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 0
Ocean City, NJ 0 0 0 18 31 15 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 12
Brielle, NJ 0 0 0 0 7 15 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Marshfield, MA 0 0 0 0 23 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
South Kingstown, RI 0 0 0 0 7 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Gloucester, MA 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 17 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
No State or Port Data 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 10 12 8 16 16
Brooklyn, NY 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 20 0 5 0
All Other Ports, MD 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 4 4
Babylon, NY 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 14 4
Highlands, NJ 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 0 0
Barnegat Light, NJ 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 61
Total 589 535 773 740 764 646 632 666 672 545 554 612 583 537 635



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, All Atlantic Wind Lease Areas

Port 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022
All Other Ports, MA 111 63 1,105 333 582 121 39 46 1,688 675 222 297 156 165 23
All Other Ports, ME 4 12 0 11 9 2 0 30 37 26 11 0 0 0 0
All Other Ports, NJ 576 1,013 724 784 819 520 328 513 843 697 934 929 1,108 1,045 1,221
All Other Ports, NY 261 114 514 279 178 140 478 378 392 355 836 2,920 240 2,628 1,107
All Other Ports, RI 45 58 75 78 0 32 355 572 556 446 7 52 26 96 56
All Other Ports, VA 70 7 169 153 0 0 6 5 0 0 22 0 12 0 5
Barnegat, NJ 21 254 2,822 343 1,404 1,479 398 1,019 1,008 249 3,137 3,907 2,962 0 40
Cape May, NJ 1,852 1,427 1,463 1,590 2,412 2,735 2,161 1,526 1,086 518 111 279 599 493 214
Indian River, DE 232 154 891 882 203 172 95 42 230 584 222 0 0 1,454 527
Lewes, DE 1,137 105 153 204 185 150 149 239 117 282 551 0 0 0 0
Long Beach, NJ 442 178 203 112 0 0 67 22 0 0 53 0 0 0 0
Montauk, NY 822 1,295 2,280 2,289 858 730 657 697 298 567 792 700 940 432 987
Ocean City, MD 394 343 462 175 201 286 83 262 390 193 454 344 122 97 182
Point Judith, RI 905 689 1,229 1,007 982 921 1,004 666 1,045 1,343 277 148 50 95 225
Point Pleasant, NJ 42 0 283 74 0 0 0 0 84 0 0 0 0 0 117
Sea Isle City, NJ 141 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 152 345 0 0 0 0
Virginia Beach, VA 416 0 0 0 215 265 463 414 574 548 129 319 327 828 446
Wildwood, NJ 143 454 124 0 0 61 0 254 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
All Other Ports, DE 0 8 0 0 2 0 3 7 11 7 0 103 81 172 233
All Other Ports, NH 0 35 166 112 68 0 18 64 49 0 51 20 0 52 0
Atlantic City, NJ 0 175 115 389 394 180 476 412 0 0 0 0 0 0 121
Avalon, NJ 0 172 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Margate, NJ 0 27 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
All Other Ports, CT 0 0 144 21 6 0 24 24 16 194 478 52 79 154 214
Freeport, NY 0 0 76 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1,804 0 3,103 0 512
Hampton, NH 0 0 163 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Babylon(Captree), NY 0 0 0 102 0 258 0 0 0 0 0 159 0 0 0
Ocean City, NJ 0 0 0 537 1,605 295 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 57
Brielle, NJ 0 0 0 0 216 250 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Marshfield, MA 0 0 0 0 131 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
South Kingstown, RI 0 0 0 0 35 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Gloucester, MA 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 419 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
No State or Port Data 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 111 106 66 118 73
Brooklyn, NY 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 462 0 106 0
All Other Ports, MD 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 18 64 47
Babylon, NY 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 119 367 119
Highlands, NJ 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 79 0 0
Barnegat Light, NJ 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1,096
Total 7,614 6,583 13,161 9,475 10,505 8,597 6,804 7,611 8,424 6,836 10,547 10,797 10,087 8,366 7,622



Percentage of Angler Trips by Permit

We analyzed the percentage of each permit’s total angler trips coming from within all Atlantic wind lease areas 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 fifteen year angler trip percentages. The boxplot in the figure below further separate the area out by year.


Table 5.1 Fifteen Year Summary of Permit Angler Trip Revenue Percent, All Atlantic Wind Lease Areas

Area Min 1st Quartile Median 3rd Quartile Max
All Atlantic Wind Lease Areas 0.03% 2% 5% 16% 100%


Figure 5.1 Annual Permit Angler Trip Percentage Boxplots, All Atlantic wind lease areas




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 all Atlantic wind lease areas, Table 6.2 presents the revenue generated inside all Atlantic wind lease areas against the total revenue from those same entities. Revenue values have been deflated to 2022 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
2020 Small Business 322 $66,666,000
2021 Small Business 358 $81,119,000
2022 Small Business 446 $92,285,000
Table 6.2 Revenue within All Atlantic Wind Lease Areas compared to total revenue from all areas for entities active within All Atlantic Wind Lease Areas, by business category
Year Business Type Number of Entities Area Revenue Total Revenue
2020 Small Business 57 $1,935,000 $18,538,000
2021 Small Business 64 $2,650,000 $22,515,000
2022 Small Business 91 $2,248,000 $24,819,000



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.


Table 7.1 Annual Party Vessel Trips, Angler Trips, and Number of Vessels within All Atlantic Wind Lease Areas, 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 2.09 5.12 16.19
2009 1.85 4.92 17.17
2010 2.29 6.11 17.58
2011 2.24 4.46 18.42
2012 2.40 6.87 17.98
2013 2.19 4.56 18.02
2014 2.23 4.77 17.11
2015 2.50 4.75 19.48
2016 2.58 4.57 21.49
2017 2.23 4.88 20.29
2018 2.23 7.52 19.92
2019 2.51 8.99 13.85
2020 2.70 11.83 16.20
2021 2.34 6.77 15.91
2022 2.66 7.34 19.29
Table 7.2 Fifteen Year Total Fish Count for Top Ten Species as a Percent of Total, All Atlantic Wind Lease Areas
Species Fish Count as % of Total
Sea Raven 14.18
Mako Shortfin Shark 9.63
Cunner 5.64
Sculpins 4.91
Black Sea Bass 4.57
Cod 4.47
Summer Flounder 4.13
Hake Mix Red & White 3.30
Tautog 3.12


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.