# Presentation: 064600

## National Saltwater Angler Registry Program 

-  Report for the
- Marine Fisheries Advisory Committee
- December 18, 2007

## Initiative Governance Structure

**Notes:**
NOTE:  Analysis and Design Work Groups have been merged

## Executive Steering Committee

**Fishery Management Councils**
- Kitty Simonds (WPFMC)
- Miguel Rolon (CFMC)
**Interstate Commissions**
- Vince O’Shea (ASMFC)
- Larry Simpson (GSMFC)
- Randy Fisher (PSMFC)
**Federal Advisory Committee**
- Bob Fletcher (MAFAC)
**NOAA Fisheries**
- Doug Mecum (NMFS – AKRO)
- Nancy Thompson (NMFS – NEFSC)
- John Boreman (NMFS – ST, Chair)
- Tom Gleason (NMFS – MB, Executive Secretary)

## Registry Team Members

**Federal**
-  Gordon Colvin, NOAA Fisheries Service *(chair)*
-  Ken Richkus, US Fish and Wildlife Service
**State**
-  Phil Anderson, Washington DFW
-  Erik Barth, Virginia MRC
-  George Lapointe, Maine DMR
-  Ron Regan, Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies
-  Mark Robson, Florida FWCC
-  Spud Woodward, Georgia CRD
-  Brad Spear, Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission
-   Bob Clark, Alaska DFG
**Council**
-  Ed Ebisui, Western Pacific Fishery Management Council
**Constituent**
-  Dick Brame, Coastal Conservation Association
-  Jim Donofrio, Recreational Fishing Alliance
-  Eric Schwaab, MAFAC Liaison, Maryland DNR

**Notes:**
Thanks to all the members.  

Acknowledge the ASMFC members:  
Brad Spear—ASMFC staff
George Lapointe—ASMFC Chairman
Mark Robson—Florida
Spud Woodward—Georgia
Erik Barth—Virginia
Eric Schwaab—our host state of Maryland

## Registry and MRII Principles

-  Inclusive
- Collaborative
- Transparent

**Notes:**
Inclusive:  Our partners and stakeholders are involved in the Teams and Work Groups.  Thanks to ASMFC for committing Vince to ESC, Megan to OT and Brad to RT.  Thanks to the many states who have contributed staff to the Teams and WG’s.

Collaborative:  we recognize the need for the Registry to be a collaborative state-federal effort or it will not achieve its goals

Transparent:  We are committed to info sharing.  We are informing all of the Team’s recommendations early, and before final decisions are made by NOAA.

## Background:  Basis of Registry

- National Research Council
- Establish “a comprehensive, universal sampling frame with national coverage.”
- ...by creating a “national registration of all saltwater anglers” or “through new or existing state saltwater license programs that would allow no exemptions and that would provide appropriate contact information from anglers fishing in all marine waters, state and federal.”

**Notes:**
Emphasis is on creating a complete registry, with no exemptions.

## Basis of Registry (cont.)

- Magnuson-Stevens Act
- Federally established national/regional registry
- Fishing in EEZ or for anadromous species
- No fee before January 1, 2011
- Vessels included?
- Anglers may be exempted based on data provided by states

**Notes:**
Sec 401 of MSA:  Requires Secretary to “establish a program to improve the quality and accuracy of information generated by the Marine Recreational Fishery Statistics Survey with a goal of achieving acceptable accuracy and utility for each individual fishery.”  Program shall take into consideration, and to the extent feasible, implement the recommendations of the NRC review.  To include “use of surveys that target anglers registered or licensed at the State or Federal level...”

NOTE:  Although NRC strongly recommended no exemptions, the federal authority is limited to EEZ and anadromous fish.  All other fishing in state waters is exempted.  This means that NOAA and the states need to work together to assure all anglers are included in the directory.

NOAA intends to charge a fee to register effective 2011.  The amount of the fee will be set consistent with NOAA policy, and is likely to be commensurate with other similar fees, e.g. the tuna permits, i.e. around $25.00--$30.00.  

For-hire vessels will be included.  Private vessels will not (unless there is some future plan in a given region to conduct vessel-based surveys.)

States may seek “Exempted State Status”  whereby the anglers and/or for-hire vessels they license/register would be exempted.

## Basis of Registry (cont.)

- 	The secretary shall exempt from registration under the program recreational fishermen and charter fishing vessels licensed, permitted or registered under the laws of a State _**if the Secretary determines that information from the state program is suitable for the Secretary’s use or is used to assist in completing marine recreational fisheries statistical surveys,**_ or evaluating the effects of proposed conservation and management measures for marine fisheries.”

**Notes:**
Basis of the Secretary’s authority to determine what information states need to submit, so that is “suitable for the Secretary’s use”

Also sets the basis for the Hybrid Approach that also allows a survey-based exemption.

## REGISTRY TEAM GOALS

- Goal:  Build, over time, and maintain a directory that identifies and supplies mail and telephone contact information for marine anglers and for-hire vessels in the United States, and that is sufficient in conjunction with supplemental data, to characterize saltwater angling effort as intended by the NRC Recreational Survey Review Panel and by Congress in the MSA.
- Subgoal:  Maximize the use of information collected by states in conjunction with state licenses or registries to populate the directory.
- Subgoal:  Minimize the time and paperwork required for anglers to submit information to the directory.
- Goal:  Enable states, working through regional partnerships, to collect and submit recreational catch and effort data that conforms to national standards in lieu of submission of angler identification information.
- Goal:  Achieve a high level of support for, and confidence in, the quality and utility of the data that results from use of the directory from anglers and fisheries professionals.

**Notes:**
We want to build a complete angler directory as the NRC recommended.  We know that will take some time to do right.  So the emphasis is on “build”.

We want to work with state registry data.

We will also work with regional data collection partnerships.

We must support the overall goals of MRIP to improve data quality.  This is about improving recreational data quality—period.

## Registry Team Schedule

**Select the Approach for creating the National Saltwater Angler Registry and adopt a Development Plan that incorporates that Approach by September 30, 2007. **** **
**Adopt a final rule to implement the program by spring, 2008. ****Complete Exemption Agreements with qualifying states by January, 2009. **** **
**Establish the process for registering anglers from non-exempted states by December 31, 2008. **** **
**Begin to register anglers and to receive angler identification and contact information from exempted states, and to input that data into a new national saltwater angler registry data base, by January, 2009. **

## Getting to Exempted State Status

- State provides NOAA with a license or registry-based frame of anglers and/or for-hire vessels including identification and contact information;
- OR
- State uses registry-based information in a regional survey accepted by NOAA
- 		        -*This has come to be known as the Hybrid Approach*

**Notes:**
NOAA will entertain applications from states that describe their license systems, including a description of the categories of persons licensed, and of the data and data format the state can provide that includes the necessary identification and contact information: name, address and telephone contact # for anglers;  for-hire vessel name, vessel name and registration # and address and contact info for vessel owner and operator.  

Based on that info, NOAA and the Exempted Status states would enter into MOA’s that formalize the agreement to deliver registry data and to address future data delivery milestones.

States that do not seek or receive Exempted State Status determinations initially, may apply again.

States involved in a regional survey may apply individually or as a group.

## POTENTIALLY:
	Youths < 14 to 16
	Seniors > 60  (initially)
	Fishing on licensed piers or for-hire 		vessels
	Disabled anglers
	Active military  while on furlough

These are some possible exemptions currently being considered.

- 	Youths < 14 to 16
- 	Seniors > 60  (initially)
- 	Fishing on licensed piers or for-hire 		vessels
- 	Disabled anglers
- 	Active military  while on furlough
*These are some possible exemptions currently being considered.*

- What State License Exemptions Will NOAA Accept?

**Notes:**
All states exempt junior anglers.  We will need to do studies to determine how to address the need to assure their effort is accurately captured.

Senior exemptions will be accepted for 2 years.  

## State License Exemptions We’re Concerned About

- Fishing on a licensed private boat
- Fishing from private property
- Shore and public pier fishing exemptions
- Exclusion of some marine waters

## Challenges to a Complete Sampling Frame

**Lifetime or long-term licenses**
- to retain Exempted State status, states would commit  to a time frame to refresh licensees’ data
**Combination licenses**
- states would commit to a time frame for earmarking saltwater anglers
**Senior license**
- states would commit to a time frame for recovering ID and contact info for exempted seniors
**Data delivery**
- assure state registry data is available and deliverable in a usable format within a specified time frame

**Notes:**
Our goal is to get to a complete directory of all marine anglers, as the NRC recommended.  To do that, we must address the problems caused by senior exemptions, lifetime licenses and combination licenses.  However, we understand these will be challenging for the states to address.  Therefore we would accept state license data bases  that include them initially, and work with each state through its MOA commitment to get the data cleaned up over a 2-year period.

## Survey-based Exemptions

- State survey data is part of a Regional survey. Define the regions as:  Western Pacific:  Alaska;  Pacific (i.e. Pacific RecFIN); Gulf (i.e. RecFIN SA); Caribbean; Atlantic (i.e. ACCSP).
- Surveys utilize angler registry frames.
- Surveys are determined by NOAA Fisheries to meet national survey design and data collection standards

**Notes:**
Emphasize surveys must be regional, and not individual state surveys  (except Alaska, which is a region).

Surveys need to be based on use of anger registry data, rather than random household directories.

National standard requirements will be based on three questions:
	1.  Does that survey design and data delivery conform to standards as they are developed by MRIP?
	2.  Does the survey design address the NRC recommendations?
	3.  Does the data produced by the survey meet the essential needs of the fishery management and stock assessment partners in the region?

## State-Federal Communications

- Regular progress reports to states;  no surprises
- We will invite states to participate in outreach and communication actions
- Upon request, Registry and Operations Team will be available to brief state agencies, legislators and state marine fishery council members

**Notes:**
We would like some feedback on the information we have been sending.  

Are the E-mails too much or too little?  Is there a better way?

Are the products (talking points and FAQ’s) helpful?  What else would be helpful?

## Questions and Comments	

- Website:
- _[http://www.st.nmfs.noaa.gov/mrii/angler_registry.html](http://www.st.nmfs.noaa.gov/mrii/angler_registry.html)_
- Email to _[cyberfish@noaa.gov](mailto:cyberfish@noaa.gov)_
- Gordon Colvin contact info:
- 301-713-2367 ext. 175 (office)
- 240-357-4524 (cell)
- _[gordon.colvin@noaa.gov](mailto:gordon.colvin@noaa.gov)_