A Novel Approach for the Integration of National Marine Fisheries Service Angler Survey Data with Environmental Protection Agency Fish Advisory Data for Marine Waters

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) maintains a database of recreational fish consumption advisories for U.S. water bodies including estuarine and marine waters. The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) collects survey data on angling activity at public marine access points used to estimate recreational harvest levels. Researchers at RTI International have assisted in compiling and maintaining these two datasets, but are unaware of any attempts by federal or State agencies to link recreational catch statistics for species under advisories to assess the effectiveness of the risk message to the angling public. Using a pilot study that included waters around Staten Island, NY, we integrated geo-referenced data and information collected from the NMFS Access-Point Angler Intercept Survey from 2009-2012 and the EPA National Listing of Fish Advisories (2012), to identify species targeted and harvested by marine anglers from waters under advisory. Using relative harvest proportions and estimated catch per unit effort analysis, we concluded that these two datasets can be linked to analyze the fishing practices by marine anglers from waters currently under consumption advisories. This analysis will provide insight and value-added information about chemical contaminant concentrations as they relate to fishing activity, angler preferences and species consumed by marine recreational anglers.