Terms of Reference

Evaluation of the Internet Recreational Effort and Catch (iREC) Survey methods

Regional Peer Review Process – Pacific Region

June 2-3, 2015
Nanaimo, British Columbia

Chairperson: Karen Hunter

Context

Recreational catch estimates in the Pacific Region are based almost exclusively on creel surveys. These estimates only provide total effort and catch estimates for boat-based angling, and only cover certain areas and times. Such coverage gaps challenge Fisheries and Oceans Canada’s ability to conduct stock assessments or other analyses required by international agreements (e.g., Pacific Salmon Treaty [PST], International Pacific Halibut Commission [IPHC]) or for domestic management (sectoral allocation, Species at Risk Act [SARA], Fishery Monitoring and Catch Reporting [FMCR] Strategic Framework).

The “internet recreational catch and effort” (iREC) survey, running as a pilot since July 2012, was developed to fill these coverage gaps in tidal waters, providing catch (and effort) estimates for all areas, months, and fishing methods, for all species of interest encountered by those methods. This survey, conducted monthly, involves using an internet survey to collect detailed catch and effort information from randomly selected licence holders, and expanding those response data to represent the total catch and effort for all licence holders.

To minimize the influence of potential biases in the responses on the final catch and effort estimates adopted as official catch, a calibration procedure is proposed in which the relationship between iREC estimates and creel survey estimates is used to calibrate iREC estimates in areas and times not covered by a creel survey.

Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) Fisheries Management has requested that DFO Science evaluate the methods piloted to estimate recreational catch using the iREC survey, including the potential use of the creel survey to calibrate iREC estimates. In addition, if calibration is recommended, providing considerations for the allocation of creel surveys across months and areas has been requested. This assessment, and advice arising from this Canadian Science Advisory Secretariat (CSAS) Regional Peer Review (RPR), will be used to inform recreational catch monitoring planning, and as the basis for post-season catch estimates.

Objectives

The following two working papers will be reviewed and provide the basis for discussion and advice on the specific objectives outlined below:

Houtman, R., D. O’Brien, N. Komick. The “iREC” survey, an internet-based survey of recreational fishing effort and catch in British Columbia tidal waters: methodology and preliminary results. CSAP Working Paper 2014SFF01a

1. Document and evaluate the sampling design and analytical procedures, including the quantification of sampling error, used to estimate recreational catch from the iREC survey.
2. Quantitatively and qualitatively assess validity of the survey results across area, time, species, fishing method and fate (kept and released).
3. Identify and discuss potential sources of bias in these estimates.

O’Brien, D. and R. Houtman. Creel survey calibration of the iREC survey estimates: an integrated monitoring plan. CSAP Working Paper 2014SFF01b

4. Develop methods to calibrate iREC estimates to the creel survey.
5. Explore and discuss options, including logistics and other potential constraints, to allocate creel survey or other methods to calibrate iREC estimates.

Expected Publications

• Science Advisory Report (1)
• Proceedings
• Research Documents (2)

Participation

• Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) Science & Management (shellfish, groundfish, pelagics and salmon)  
• Academics
• Aboriginal communities/organizations
• Salmon and Halibut International Commissions
• British Columbia Sports Fishing Advisory Board
• Commercial Fishing Industry
• Environmental Non-government Organizations