A Framework for Science-Based Management of Marine Recreational Fisheries in Norway

This talk introduces and presents the first results of an interdisciplinary three-year project which aims to provide knowledge of the extent and development of marine recreational fisheries (MRF) in Norway, as well as of the ecosystem services provided by the sector. Norwegian MRF are an important part of the blue economy, but may threaten the sustainability of coastal fish stocks. Resource managers presently lack science-based knowledge to evaluate MRF' economic importance and impact on fish stocks relative to other potentially conflicting coastal activities. MRF in Norway are open access, and there is neither a comprehensive registry database of recreational fishers nor a complete registry of recreational boats available. The Norwegian telephone registry provides excellent coverage of the domestic population and is used as sampling frame for a telephone-diary survey to characterize this segment of MRF. On-site surveys are required for non-resident marine recreational fishers, and to collect biological data. This is challenging because MRF are widely spread out in time and space and the heterogeneous population of fishers cannot be representatively sampled from a finite list of access-points along the coast. Therefore, a framework for cost-effective probability-based survey sampling that can minimize biases and provide robust national estimates of recreational effort, catches, and the ecosystem services provided from MRF is developed. This includes innovative statistical methods that combine complementary probabilistic survey methods which are tested during 2017. This project will provide guidelines of sampling efforts to reliably quantify and characterize Norway's diverse and extensive MRF.