Abstract:

A survey was conducted of recreational anglers that caught or targeted spotted seatrout on Florida’s West Coast to obtain economic information that could be used to estimate the economic value of changing bag limit/size limit combinations from existing regulations, which were determined to be unsustainable, to a set of bag limit/size limits for which the biological assessment determined were sustainable. A contingent choice experiment design was used to estimate the marginal willingness to pay of fishermen towards spotted seatrout.

Suggested Citation:

Leeworthy, Bob and Schwarzmann, Danielle. 2018. Private rental boat and charter boat fishing survey on saltwater fishing experiences and the economic valuation of spotted seatrout on Florida’s West Coast from August to November, 2017. Distributed by: GRIIDC, Harte Research Institute, Texas A&M University–Corpus Christi. doi:10.7266/N7KH0KRR

Purpose:

While hundreds of species of fish and shellfish are captured by commercial and sport fishers in the marine waters of Florida's Gulf coast, only a small portion have undergone stock assessments. Many of these exploited species are primarily recreational, which leads to a further problem of determining the economic value of these stocks and their associated fisheries. Key management concerns are thus whether these stocks are being fished (1) in a biologically sustainable manner and (2) in an economically efficient manner. The main scientific roadblock stems from the lack of reliable biological and economic indicators for assessment. The bioeconomic survey was conducted to estimate the value of changing fishing regulations from an unsustainable to sustainable status for a principal gamefish, spotted seatrout, on Florida's Gulf Coast.

Data Parameters and Units:

Data collected include: saltwater fish species targeted (red drum, spotted seatrout, other); number of saltwater charter boat, head boat, privately owned or rental boat and from the shore fishing trips in past 12 months; number of saltwater charter boat, head boat, privately owned or rental boat and from the shore fishing days in past 12 months; the number of days and trips spent freshwater fishing in the past 12 months; several questions using a 5-point Likert-scale for level of agreement about why fishermen release fish; several questions using a 5-point Likert-scale for anglers’ level of support for various conservation measures that fishery management may use (i.e. minimum or maximum size limits, slot limits, bag limits, closures); saltwater fishers’ willingness to pay for changes to the bag limit/size limit of spotted seatrout, the length of the trip (half day versus full day) and time of week (weekend or weekday). A full description of database variables and code definitions is provided in the accompanying document WCFL_Codebook_Economic_Data.pdf. FL_Gulf_Coast_Recreational_Fishery_Economic_Valuation_sample.csv: This is the sample of 60,000 anglers who fished in Florida from the National Saltwater Angler Registry database. It includes detailed information on the survey administration. Contact information has been removed to protect angler’s privacy. FL_Gulf_Coast_Recreational_Fishery_Economic_Valuation_survey_2.csv: This is the sample of respondents to the survey. N=1,371 responded to the Internet survey with 1,019 completes. This data set is used to develop profiles of the anglers that caught or targeted spotted seatrout on Florida’s West Coast over 1 12-month period by mode of access (e.g. charter boat or private/rental boat). FL_Gulf_Coast_Recreational_Fishery_Economic_Valuation_survey_long2.csv: This file is used for estimating economic valuation models. It has an N=24,288. The data from the 1,019 completed surveys in Survey_2 are stacked with multiple rows of data for each respondent corresponding to each option (i.e. combinations of bag limit/size limits, weekday or weekend trip or for charter boats full or half-day, and the price of cost of the trip for which they were asked to make a decision).

Methods:

A randomized sample of 60,000 anglers who fished in Florida was drawn from the National Saltwater Angler Registry database. These anglers were contacted via email or by mailed postcard inviting them to participate in an online economic survey.

Instruments:

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Error Analysis:

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Provenance and Historical References:

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Individual Files: