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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


November 21, 2024



All Atlantic Lease Outlines 20241121



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, All Atlantic Lease Outlines 20241121

Table 1.1 Total Fish Count for Management Categories, All Atlantic Lease Outlines 20241121
Management Categories Sixteen Year Fish Count
Summer Flounder, Scup, Black Sea Bass FMP 461,790
Northeast Multispecies FMP 81,347
ASMFC Interstate FMPs 37,085
Bluefish FMP 30,197
No Federal FMP 16,237
Mackerel, Squid, and Butterfish FMP 14,568
Other Federal FMP 2,684
Highly Migratory Species FMP 2,268
Golden and Blueline Tilefish FMP 1,233
All Others 814
Total 648,223



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


Figure 2.1 Fish Count of Top Species, All Atlantic Lease Outlines 20241121

Table 2.1 Fish Count, Most Impacted Species, All Atlantic Lease Outlines 20241121
Species Sixteen Year Fish Count
Sea Bass,Black 291,137
Scup 121,736
Cod 54,540
Flounder,Summer 48,917
Bluefish 30,197
Hake,Red 19,114
Tautog 18,148
Bass,Striped 10,536
Mackerel,Chub 10,124
All Others 7,957
Total 612,406



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.


Table 3.1 Total Party/Charter Revenue by Year, All Atlantic Lease Outlines 20241121
Year Annual Revenue
2008 $630,000
2009 $605,000
2010 $1,215,000
2011 $1,013,000
2012 $985,000
2013 $850,000
2014 $726,000
2015 $771,000
2016 $931,000
2017 $649,000
2018 $1,249,000
2019 $1,298,000
2020 $1,296,000
2021 $1,345,000
2022 $1,300,000
2023 $1,512,000
Total $16,373,000



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 Lease Outlines 20241121
Port 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023
All Other Ports, MA 10 5 9 14 13 7 9 10 110 8 15 56 7 8 6 21
All Other Ports, ME 1 1 0 1 1 1 0 1 2 1 1 0 0 0 0 0
All Other Ports, NJ 76 84 51 40 102 38 33 42 97 60 65 69 70 132 179 156
All Other Ports, NY 13 7 53 15 10 7 19 19 17 15 36 83 10 80 76 64
All Other Ports, RI 12 13 14 13 0 7 60 101 99 87 1 9 4 7 6 3
All Other Ports, VA 5 5 0 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 4 0 2 33 15 22
Cape May, NJ 166 150 146 146 206 208 236 180 132 53 25 44 63 90 38 41
Indian River, DE 19 14 43 48 24 10 8 7 23 25 12 0 0 53 33 4
Lewes, DE 62 14 25 19 26 22 20 33 20 26 34 0 0 24 0 0
Long Beach, NJ 19 14 14 13 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Montauk, NY 104 100 159 221 126 79 63 76 24 84 94 132 184 95 157 121
Ocean City, MD 33 18 25 16 16 20 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Point Judith, RI 42 41 59 60 49 75 60 34 43 94 22 11 9 18 34 38
Point Pleasant, NJ 6 0 12 4 0 0 0 0 3 0 8 0 0 0 7 0
Sea Isle City, NJ 6 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 29 31 0 0 0 0 0
Virginia Beach, VA 22 0 9 14 17 13 15 16 27 14 12 13 25 0 0 6
Wildwood, NJ 9 18 12 0 0 6 0 9 0 0 11 0 0 0 0 0
All Other Ports, DE 0 2 0 8 1 0 1 10 5 6 0 16 12 8 33 68
All Other Ports, NH 0 1 6 3 2 0 3 2 3 0 2 1 0 2 0 0
Atlantic City, NJ 0 23 20 59 60 31 61 57 0 0 0 0 0 0 7 32
Avalon, NJ 0 19 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Barnegat, NJ 0 23 92 27 52 69 34 42 53 18 101 150 111 14 29 19
Margate, NJ 0 7 0 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 8 17 2 4 7 5 13
Freeport, NY 0 0 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 67 0 79 0 14 0
Hampton, NH 0 0 4 0 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 0 0 0 0 0
Ocean City, NJ 0 0 0 18 32 15 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 13 88
Brielle, NJ 0 0 0 0 7 15 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 0
Barnegat Light, NJ 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 4 0 0 5 0 0 0 0 0
Ocean City Harbor, MD 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 12 16 12 31 12 9 7 17 38
All Other Ports, MD 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 4 5 9 11
Babylon, NY 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 6 14 4 0
Brooklyn (Borough Of New York), NY 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 23 0 5 0 0
No State or Port Data 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 10 7 12 13 13
Highlands, NJ 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 0 0 0
Belmar, NJ 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 5
Rhode Island (Unknown Port), RI 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4
Total 605 559 764 747 752 632 637 658 675 540 595 634 610 614 695 767



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 Lease Outlines 20241121
Port 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023
All Other Ports, MA 70 57 62 77 73 37 39 44 1,149 19 130 335 41 29 23 223
All Other Ports, ME 4 12 0 11 9 2 0 30 37 26 11 0 0 0 0 0
All Other Ports, NJ 592 1,040 753 784 835 440 340 504 844 794 692 929 1,253 1,584 3,031 2,426
All Other Ports, NY 261 114 514 279 178 140 478 378 392 355 836 2,920 207 2,628 1,273 2,061
All Other Ports, RI 45 58 75 78 0 32 355 570 556 446 3 52 26 90 62 43
All Other Ports, VA 142 86 0 3 0 0 6 5 0 0 22 0 12 990 493 751
Cape May, NJ 1,883 1,506 1,526 1,646 2,478 2,739 2,242 1,577 1,245 614 170 325 637 572 222 266
Indian River, DE 238 154 904 915 246 173 95 42 234 595 222 0 0 1,292 515 16
Lewes, DE 1,147 116 173 204 185 150 149 244 117 296 720 0 0 191 0 0
Long Beach, NJ 442 178 203 112 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Montauk, NY 822 1,295 2,280 2,289 858 730 657 697 298 567 792 711 940 432 821 779
Ocean City, MD 408 343 464 183 209 306 34 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Point Judith, RI 905 689 1,229 1,007 982 916 1,004 666 1,051 1,370 298 142 50 89 189 354
Point Pleasant, NJ 42 0 283 74 0 0 0 0 84 0 191 0 0 0 117 0
Sea Isle City, NJ 141 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 142 394 0 0 0 0 0
Virginia Beach, VA 462 0 181 409 302 275 480 469 625 162 190 365 553 0 0 76
Wildwood, NJ 143 460 328 0 0 61 0 254 0 0 194 0 0 0 0 0
All Other Ports, DE 0 8 0 41 2 0 3 28 20 17 0 113 83 170 284 536
All Other Ports, NH 0 35 166 112 68 0 18 64 49 0 51 20 0 52 0 0
Atlantic City, NJ 0 175 115 389 394 180 366 380 0 0 0 0 0 0 121 326
Avalon, NJ 0 176 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Barnegat, NJ 0 254 2,822 343 1,404 1,480 445 1,001 1,008 251 3,141 3,907 2,962 133 331 211
Margate, NJ 0 27 0 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 16 210 374 52 79 154 214 154
Freeport, NY 0 0 76 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2,362 0 3,103 0 512 0
Hampton, NH 0 0 163 0 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 0 0 0 0 0
Ocean City, NJ 0 0 0 537 1,621 295 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 62 1,146
Brielle, NJ 0 0 0 0 216 250 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 0
Barnegat Light, NJ 0 0 0 0 0 0 34 22 0 0 34 0 0 0 0 0
Ocean City Harbor, MD 0 0 0 0 0 0 55 262 390 193 497 344 111 97 185 296
All Other Ports, MD 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 33 69 68 61
Babylon, NY 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 159 172 367 119 0
Brooklyn (Borough Of New York), NY 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 578 0 106 0 0
No State or Port Data 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 71 62 102 60 95
Highlands, NJ 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 79 0 0 0
Belmar, NJ 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 53
Rhode Island (Unknown Port), RI 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 21
Total 7,747 6,783 12,461 9,616 10,101 8,464 6,824 7,261 8,115 6,057 11,325 11,023 10,403 9,147 8,702 9,894



Percentage of Angler Trips by Permit

We analyzed the percentage of each permit’s total angler trips coming from within All Atlantic Lease Outlines 20241121 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, All Atlantic Lease Outlines 20241121
Area Min 1st Quartile Median 3rd Quartile Max
All Atlantic Lease Outlines 20241121 0.03% 2% 6% 17% 100%


Figure 5.1 Annual Permit Angler Trip Percentage Boxplots, All Atlantic Lease Outlines 20241121




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 All Atlantic Lease Outlines 20241121 area, Table 6.2 presents the revenue generated inside the All Atlantic Lease Outlines 20241121 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.


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
2021 Small Business 330 $118,023,000
2022 Small Business 394 $131,086,000
2023 Small Business 456 $132,971,000
Table 6.2 Revenue within the All Atlantic Lease Outlines 20241121 area compared to total revenue from all areas for entities active within the All Atlantic Lease Outlines 20241121 area, by business category
YEAR Business Type Number of Entities Area Revenue Total Revenue
2021 Small Business 59 $3,966,000 $32,263,000
2022 Small Business 85 $3,675,000 $35,632,000
2023 Small Business 88 $4,648,000 $44,403,000



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 the All Atlantic Lease Outlines 20241121 area, 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 2.14 5.23 17.10
2009 1.94 4.97 17.93
2010 2.27 5.69 18.91
2011 2.26 4.54 18.75
2012 2.37 6.66 17.98
2013 2.17 4.53 18.05
2014 2.28 4.80 17.11
2015 2.50 4.68 18.76
2016 2.62 4.41 22.45
2017 2.24 4.36 20.29
2018 2.43 8.05 20.99
2019 2.62 9.14 14.16
2020 2.85 12.27 16.90
2021 2.74 7.37 17.39
2022 2.96 8.31 19.92
2023 3.24 8.73 18.81
Table 7.2 Sixteen Year Total Fish Count for Top Ten Species as a Percent of Total, All Atlantic Lease Outlines 20241121
Species Fish Count as % of Total
Sea Raven 14.03
Shark,Mako Shortfin 9.89
Cunner 5.45
Skate,Clearnose 5.21
Sea Bass,Black 4.93
Sculpins 4.84
Flounder,Summer 4.20
Cod 3.88
Triggerfish 3.42


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.