Recreational Fishery Landings

While some fishers take to the sea for profit others fish for pleasure. Recreational fishing refers to the taking of fish by individuals as a leisure or sport activity, and not for profit.[17] Charter boats that charge passengers a rate are not able to sell their catch at market. If, however, charter boats do not charge a fee for fishing then they are allowed to put the catch on the market. Since recreational captains stand to make more money by charging a fee to fish, recreationally-caught fish are not a substantial portion of the cod on the market. However, recreational landings of cod cannot be ignored. The recreational cod fishery in the Gulf of Maine is a thriving industry. Every year thousands of fishers take to the sea on charter boats or private vessels to try their hand at catching cod. Primary fishing methods include using bait (usually clams or herring) or "jigging" where the fisher lowers a shiny "jig" just off the bottom and continues to rapidly lift the jig and let it fall again, bringing about the appearance of an injured baitfish. Small "flies" and rubber imitation shrimp are also effective.

In 2003 the federal minimum size for cod is 23 inches. Fishers are limited to a possession of not more than 10 fish (cod and haddock combined) per person per day from April 1 through November 30. From December 1 through March 31 the daily bag limit is 5 cod per person per day. [18]

In 1979 the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) established the Marine Recreational Fisheries Statistics Survey (MRFSS). Since then the Marine Recreational Fisheries Statistics Program team has used telephone and intercept surveys to quantify the recreational landings of cod in the Gulf of Maine. The goal of these surveys is to "obtain standardized and comparable estimates of participation, effort, and catch by recreational anglers in the marine waters of the United States."[19] Estimates are calculated for six two-month periods throughout the calendar year. Intercept surveys are administered at fishing access sites and obtain information on the number, weights and lengths of fish caught by species, mode of fishing, primary area of fishing, the number of trips made per year, and the state and county of residence. Telephone surveys are administered in coastal communities and obtain information on the number of fishing trips in the previous two months, the primary mode of fishing and location of each trip, and the number of anglers in the household. Total survey effort during a one-year period usually involves more than 76,000 intercept interviews and over 265,000 telephone interviews.[14] Since 1980 the number of completed MRFSS surveys has increased from roughly 96,000 to roughly 138,000.[20]

http://www.st.nmfs.gov/st1/recreational/pubs/brochures/NAbrochure.pdf

Between 1982 and 2000 the recreational landings of cod in the Gulf of Maine have ranged from a high of 3,449 metric tons (2,053,000 cod) in 1987 to a low of 360 metric tons (161,000 cod) in 1997.[21] Other seasons with low recorded catches include 1984 (1353 metric tons caught, or 904,000 cod), 1986 (1856 metric tons caught, or 992 cod) and 1992 (902 metric tons caught, or 331,000 cod). Despite the fact that recreational fishers have not landed over 2000 tons of cod since 1991 there is a steady increase in landings between 1997 (360 metric tons caught, or 161,000 cod) and 2000 (1265 metric tons caught, or 487,000 cod).

Graph by E. Brazer

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