Gulf State Recreational Fishing Data Transition Process

Gulf Transition Overview

The goal of the Gulf of America Recreational Fishing Data Transition Process is to effectively incorporate Gulf state survey data into regional recreational catch and effort estimates, leading to more informed sustainable fisheries management. 

NOAA Fisheries has been supporting the development, implementation, and certification of Gulf of America state data collection programs designed to produce more timely and precise recreational catch estimates for certain species like red snapper. 

Gulf state partners and NOAA Fisheries are working together to make survey improvements, increase accuracy of state and federal recreational fisheries statistics, minimize differences between estimates, and create a consistent approach in the evaluation of all available recreational fishing data to best inform stock assessments and fisheries management.

In September 2024, representatives from Gulf state agencies, including Gulf Fisheries Information Network, Gulf Council, Gulf States Marine Fisheries Commission, as well as NOAA Fisheries released a research plan that prioritizes projects to improve recreational fishing data collection now and into the future. This plan serves as a guide for the overarching state-federal Gulf Transition Plan to improve and streamline catch and effort estimates used in stock assessments and fisheries management guidance.

In 2026, we certified Alabama's and Mississippi's creel surveys, which marks a significant milestone for the partnership and our efforts to improve recreational fishing data in the Gulf. Certification means AL Creel and MS Creel were found to be statistically valid approaches to provide key recreational fishing statistics. Both surveys are now eligible to receive NOAA Fisheries’ funding as it becomes available. We worked closely with both states to coordinate the independent peer review of these surveys. Both surveys—modeled after Louisiana's LA Creel Survey, which is also NOAA certified—received favorable reviews for certification with recommendations for continued improvement. The peer review notes that making these state survey designs similar to LA Creel “should facilitate direct comparisons between state fisheries that are targeting similar stocks and can lead to synergies in developing future methodological improvements.” Improving and implementing new data collection systems that result in comparable estimates is a central component of the Gulf Transition process. 

In addition, the Gulf States Marine Fisheries Commission is planning to work with an independent statistician to analyze comparability between these three state creel surveys and Florida’s State Reef Fish Survey, which was certified by NOAA Fisheries in 2018. 

By 2027 the partnership plans to: 

• Make any necessary additional survey design improvements
• Calibrate estimates produced from the different Gulf survey designs into the same scale and/or produce a composite estimate that integrates the data from all the Gulf surveys, so trends in fishing activity or fish stocks can be properly tracked
• Launch a centralized data system, so data users can access estimates from all of the Gulf state survey programs to meet stock assessment and management needs

Why is the Gulf Transition Plan necessary?

Differences in survey designs and resulting estimates can generate challenges for stock assessments and management. For instance, there can be two distinct estimates of landings for a state: one produced by the NOAA Fisheries survey and another produced from the state survey. This makes management challenging when an annual catch limit is set using NOAA survey data, and there are requests to predict/monitor recreational catch using state data, especially when the data are not directly comparable to NOAA Fisheries’ data.

NOAA Fisheries collaborates with sponsors of any new or improved survey design or estimation method to develop and execute a Transition Plan that describes how estimates produced by the new or improved design will be incorporated effectively into the existing, historical time series of estimates.

Fully transitioning to a new survey design may require benchmarking and/or statistical calibration.

• Benchmarking allows different survey designs to be implemented side-by-side. We examine and compare the resulting estimates and identify and evaluate potential drivers for differences between the estimates.
• Calibration accounts for the sources of variation between old and new survey estimates. It can be used to convert historical estimates to the same units of the new survey design, thereby preserving the continuity of the historical time series (as if the new survey had been in place the entire time).

Can state data be used immediately and/or replace NOAA Fisheries data?

State data is being used.

The Transition Plan includes interim ratio-calibrations, recommended by state and federal scientists, that allow state recreational fishing data to be used in the assessment and management of red snapper and other stocks in the Gulf of America. 

For most Gulf stock assessments in the short term, state estimates are calibrated to federal estimates to match the scale of our existing, long-term time series of recreational catch in the region. The large-scale recreational fishing surveys administered by NOAA Fisheries provide the only source of regionally consistent recreational data and long-term trend information covering many species, which is important for stock assessments.  

For management and monitoring in the short term, annual catch limits set at the scale of federal estimates are calibrated to the scale of each state’s data collection program, and states will continue to monitor catch using their own data.

Who decides what recreational fishing data is used in management and stock assessments?

The full partnership, including NOAA Fisheries, is involved in specifying the data needed for use in federal stock assessments and management. Survey certification does not guarantee the use of resulting survey data in federal fisheries management or stock assessments. 

The Southeast Data, Assessment, and Review Program (SEDAR) is the cooperative process by which stock assessment projects are conducted in NOAA Fisheries’ Southeast Region. SEDAR was initiated to improve planning and coordination of stock assessment activities and to improve the quality and reliability of assessments. A number of agencies are involved in the SEDAR process, including the South Atlantic, Caribbean, and Gulf fishery management councils; NOAA Fisheries Southeast Fisheries Science Center; NOAA Fisheries Southeast Regional Office; NOAA Fisheries Highly Migratory Species Division; and the Atlantic and Gulf States Marine Fisheries commissions.

Debate and evaluation of scientific information, including best available science determinations and recommendations to the regional fishery management councils, is the role of each regional council’s scientific and statistical committee, in consultation with NOAA Fisheries, as requested. Since council recommendations are reviewed and approved by NOAA Fisheries regional offices and science centers, NOAA Fisheries certifies that the management action is consistent with best scientific information available (BSIA). It’s important to note that BSIA is based on a collection of data and not a single source.

Resources

• Transition Plan for Gulf State Recreational Fishing Surveys
• Gulf Transition Research Plan
• Gulf of America State Survey Transition Projected Timeline (as of May 2026; this timeline is anticipated to be updated ~ quarterly)
• Transitioning to New Recreational Fishing Survey Designs
• Gulf State Recreational Catch and Effort Surveys Transition Workshop (February 2022)
• Handout: NOAA Fisheries and the Gulf States
• Gulf of America Recreational Data Collection Storyboard
• History of Management of Gulf Red Snapper