Marine recreational fishing (MRF) is a popular outdoor activity that contributes substantially to total harvest in many coastal stocks, yet it is rarely integrated into stock assessments and its impact on target stocks is often unknown. For the red-listed European lobster ( Homarus gammarus ) in Norway , we applied two probabilistic off-site survey methods (diary and recall) to estimate participation, effort, harvest rates and...

Recreational fishing surveys have an important role in providing data to inform fisheries management. The selection of a contact method is an important and often challenging consideration that influences the potential for non‐sampling errors that can result in unrepresentative data and biased estimates. Telephones are used for many off‐site recreational fishing surveys, but widespread use of digital technology suggests that on...

Recreational fishing (RF) is a large yet undervalued component of fisheries globally. While progress has been made in monitoring, assessing, and managing the sector in isolation, integration of RF into the management of multi‐sector fisheries has been limited, particularly relative to the commercial sector. This marginalises recreational fishers and reduces the likelihood of achieving the sector's objectives and, more broadly,...

Southern Bluefin Tuna (SBT) Thunnus maccoyii (Castelnau) comprises a single, highly migratory stock that is managed internationally by the Commission for the Conservation of Southern Bluefin Tuna (CCSBT). CCSBT members are expected to provide estimates of all sources of fishing mortality within their allocation, including commercial and recreational catch and any additional mortality associated with discarded or released catch...

Because trace elements of otoliths are considered a natural marker capable of recognizing the chemical composition of ambient water and fish migration history, these elements could be potentially used to analyse the movement of reproductive (R) and non‐reproductive (NR) mature‐sized fish. Supposedly, it is not essential for NR individuals to migrate to rivers for spawning because they do not have developed gonads. To investiga...

Marine recreational fishing ( MRF ) is a high‐participation activity with large economic value and social benefits globally, and it impacts on some fish stocks. Although reporting MRF catches is a European Union legislative requirement, estimates are only available for some countries. Here, data on numbers of fishers, participation rates, days fished, expenditures, and catches of two widely targeted species were synthesized to...

Obtaining reliable estimates of important parameters from recreational fisheries is problematic but critical for stock assessment and effective resource management. Sampling methodologies based on traditional design‐based sampling theory, is inadequate in obtaining representative catch and effort data, social or demographical characterization, or fisher behaviour from small hard‐to‐reach components within recreational fisherie...

Southern rock lobster ( Jasus edwardsii ) support significant commercial and recreational fisheries in Tasmania, Australia. Since the mid 1990s the number of persons holding recreational lobster licences increased by over 80%, with c. 15 500 persons licensed in 2002/03. Assessment of the recreational fishery has been undertaken periodically since 1996 using a telephone‐diary survey method. The fishery was concentrated off the...