Irish Marine Recreational Angling Survey - Your Views?

IFI have recently announced the commissioning of a Recreational Sea Angling Survey. Sea Angling Ireland, along with IFSA, and the Charter Skippers Association, Marine Institute and SWAN (Sustainable Water Network) were invited to a “steering group meeting”. The meeting outlined the plan for the survey and there was some discussion about the methods and suchlike.
The EU has been looking for recreational data from recreational sea angling for some time. Ireland has basically ignored the requests until now.

It would be interesting to hear your views whatever they may be on the following:

IFI’s website states:

Do you want to help to protect the future of sea angling?
We want to hear from you!
Sea angling is an important recreational activity in Ireland, however very little is known about:
• Where we fish
• When we fish
• How much we catch & release
• The socio-economic benefits of sea angling
With your help, the Irish Marine Recreational Angling Survey (IMREC) is planning to address these questions.


Irish Marine Recreational Angling Survey
This survey has been developed:
• To promote sea angling as an important recreational activity
• To better document and characterise sea angling in Ireland
• To collect robust sea angling data to contribute to EU reporting requirements
• To provide information to improve management and conservation of the sea angling resource
• To provide information to contribute to a shared national responsibility to manage stocks properly for everyone
• To provide all stakeholders, and particularly anglers, with factual information about different species
Throughout Ireland in 2020 surveyors will be visiting angling venues to meet anglers (shore, charter and private boat) to collect catch information face-to-face.
If you encounter a surveyor please give a few minutes of your time to contribute towards a better understanding of the sea angling resource in Ireland.


The Charter Skippers Association posted this item on their website:
https://www.irishcharterskippersassocia ... icsa-news#

Quota on recreational fish catches?
Chairman of the I.C.S.A. Donal Kennedy attended a meeting in Athlone on the 23rd January 2020 as a member of the Marine Recreational Angling Survey of Ireland Steering Group along with Luke Aston, I.C.S.A. Shannon region representative. The meeting was very interesting and was chaired by Willie Roche, IFI, who are tasked with others to carry out a survey on the catches of recreational fishing in Ireland.

A time frame this survey is to be implemented has not been not fixed yet but when the group put a plan in place it will move with pace. This survey comes on the back of a directive from the EU regulations EC 199/2008 which compels the Irish Government to carry out same. The survey is being funded by the E.U. and Donal Kennedy was delighted to be at the meeting, representing the I.C.S.A. and be part of the steering group along with Luke Aston.

Following this meeting it brought back the time where the I.C.S.A. fought to make sure that the E.U. back in 2008 were not going to introduce a quota on recreational fish catches. The I.C.S.A. were successful in having the E.U. state that they were not going to introduce a quota and were basically leaving it up to the Irish Government to deal with the issue.

The concern now is, that it has reared its head again under this directive which compels the Irish Government to carry out the survey and following their findings, issue quotas etc or not, should the survey show that recreational fishing is impacting on fish stocks.

We need to be part of this survey so that we can record and have recorded the fish charter skippers catch or release for the season. Doing so will show that what we catch is very small and by no way have impacts on fish stocks compared to the commercial fleet.

Also by taking part in the survey we will be able to show what we catch or release and not allow the E.U. dictate what they think we catch or what impact we have on fish stocks. Whereby the E.U. could put a figure on our recreational fishing catches (which would not be a true reading) and maybe state then, that a quota should have to be introduced. Where would the quota come from? From the commercial sector which in turn would cause issues.

It is important that we get as many charter skippers signed up to the I.C.S.A., take part in the survey so that we have an input on our future.

Typically if it gets measured it gets managed, be welcomed.

The main thing for me is that it runs the risk of bias. To be blunt do you think those that committed the terrible acts in ballycotton last month will complete the survey honestly, if at all.

Survey is only the ground work.If they want good data, they need to get out in the shoreline and not just Dublin. Look forward to seeing them around.

Before filling out the survey, I would like to know what governments/departments have access to the information once its complied. Would I have access to the info under the freedom of information act? Be able to get all your Mark's Jim

In general I mistrust these type of "do you have a minute" surveys.
The answers are generally not well thought out and depend largely on how the questions are phrased.
Secondly, once the data is collected, there is the matter of what agencies get access to it and for what purpose.
I personally will not be taking part in any such surveys if approached.

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Typical E.U. If you do not do it voluntary they introduce a directive which compels the Irish Government to carry out the survey t this way so why have our EU ministers not done this survey when it was asked for. I for one will remain a catch and release angler giving them nothing to record at anywhere at any time.
mickser

do you think those that committed the terrible acts in ballycotton last month will complete the survey honestly, if at all.

What happened in Ballycotton ?

Sea anglers frequently complain about lack of recognition, being ignored or badly treated to the benefit of the commercial sector; you've heard it all. The proposed survey could help address these complaints but to be taken seriously the statistics must be on hand. Keymg has a good point ,"in general I mistrust these type of "do you have a minute" surveys. The answers are generally not well thought out and depend largely on how the questions are phrased."That said I would be happy enough to participate if approached (though the "where we fish" bit would be pretty vague!). @mickser;

"I for one will remain a catch and release angler giving them nothing to record at anywhere at any time."
That is important information, I am about 95% catch and release and this type of info. needs to be recorded to prevent the effect of anglers on fish stocks being over-estimated. Go big or go home also has a point,
"do you think those that committed the terrible acts in ballycotton last month will complete the survey honestly, if at all."
Some people fiddle their tax returns, don't pay their bills etc but most of us do the right thing and society trundles on!

do you think those that committed the terrible acts in ballycotton last month will complete the survey honestly, if at all.

What happened in Ballycotton ?

I'll post up on another thread so as not to clutter this one
viewtopic.php?f=12&t=50958

JW, I would love to think that the Eurocrats are concerned about anglers issues but the cynic in me feels that they see an up to now untapped revenue source to exploit.
I have seen how other EU countries have a log that must be filled in at the end of days fishing and from what I saw most of what was recorded was pulled out of thin air. Bad data is worse than no data.
Like you 95% of what I catch goes back.
If the charter skippers are all going to sign up to record all catches then that's going to be a good source of info for them. The IFSA record every fish caught in their competitions so theres another reliable source.

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Been thinking on this, to avoid a skew in the results wouldnt you need 3 different surveys, one for charters, one for small craft owners and one the shore angler/guides.

For example a small craft owner may just go be potting for crab/lobster with a 100% keep ratio. A charter boat is out as often as they can and my be just tagging a few tuna a month.That info shouldn't be mixed with the shore angler.

Also be important to record how many did not take part.

some excellent points raised here.

I agree that the dataset should be made open, perhaps lodged under data.gov.ie so that it can be analysed by others...

K

Press Release today from IFI :

New sea angling survey will support marine stocks
Appeal to sea anglers to contribute to marine research and support the value of sea angling in Ireland
Tuesday, 3rd of March 2020: Sea anglers can now play a key role in the conservation and management of marine fish stocks. A new survey programme; The Irish Marine Recreational Sea Angling Survey (IMREC), will see Inland Fisheries Ireland gather information regarding recreational catches of fish along the coast and at sea. Data collected from the survey will improve the management of stocks and support conservation efforts thereby contributing to increasing the availability of fish to sea anglers in the future.

Following new legislation from the European Commission which requires EU member states to collect and report data on recreational catches, Inland Fisheries Ireland has established this new programme which will give a clear picture of how fishing activities relate to stock levels. The sea angling survey will provide data which will inform knowledge around trends in stock levels and the sustainability of key species.

A sea angling diary app is currently in the development stage. The app will allow anglers to share and compare catch data with fellow participants. There will also be monthly prizes for active participants.

Dr Ciaran Byrne, CEO of Inland Fisheries Ireland said: “Sea angling is an important activity in Ireland with social, recreational and economic benefits for coastal communities. There are approximately 126,000 anglers participating in the sea angling fishery in Ireland and we are now hoping they will help us establish how often people go fishing, what they catch and what they release.

This information will tell us how sea angling contributes to the economy in Ireland and how we can best manage the marine fisheries resource for all. If we have strong evidence and verifiable data around fish stocks then we can make informed management decisions, rather than having to take a worst-case view which is often what happens where there are large uncertainties in terms of data.”

For more information about the survey programme, visit https://www.fisheriesireland.ie/Projects/imrec.html where you can read a full FAQ guide and if you are interested in partaking in the programme you can register to be put on the mailing list.

ENDS

Just did the survey, thought it was great up to question 47. For some reason I didnt want to answer questions on spending habits. Felt unnecessary and abit personal.

The rest of the survey was nice and simple. Hope the info goes towards getting some positive results.

As a new entrant to the Ireland saltwater angling scene, not sure whether this is done, but back in South Africa the nature conservation dept (and this is a HUGE kudos to a government authority there), was extremely successful in getting boating anglers (both charters and non-profit) as well as rock and surf anglers, usually through their clubs but also privately, to implement a fairly robust Tagging programme.
So (eg) for shore-based angling, most club competitions would be C&R only, with virtually all fish caught being recorded - namely key dimensions plus tag inserted. After a couple of years some very interesting data started emerging about localised resident species (typically bottom dweller/reef types) versus more migratory species (typically the sharks, pelagics and many of the shoreline predators - Kingfish, Bluefish etc).
This data then assisted in the promulgation of numerous Marine Protected Areas (MPA's) which permitted angling only on a C&R basis or other restrictions (eg only pelagics).
These areas serve as crucial breeding grounds for numerous reef species, which in turn attract the pelagics, thus improving the entire fishing biomass through breeding and migration "spillover" effects.

Did the survey last week and I dont find it too invasive at all.If all the info becomes available to us as either private boat owners or shore fishermen I personally think it will put to bed the ongoing assumptions that we have a major impact on our fish stocks and that the damage comes from elsewhere.

Just did the survey, thought it was great up to question 47. For some reason I didnt want to answer questions on spending habits. Felt unnecessary and abit personal.

The rest of the survey was nice and simple. Hope the info goes towards getting some positive results.

I'd agree with you. We did say that we felt that it was a bit off track. If the aim is to collect catch data, then collect catch data. Apart from that it is very difficult to quantify the spending of an angler in any case.

For anybody reading this and wondering, there is a post on the actual survey here: viewtopic.php?f=12&t=51112