A Probability Sample Design for a Headboat Survey: Lessons Learned from a Pilot Study

The Southeast Regional Headboat Survey covers headboat activities from North Carolina to Texas and is the official method to provide information on the status of populations of reef fish throughout the Southeastern U.S.  In the standard data collection protocol, Port Agents are provided with guidelines for sampling and then exercise their own discretion to select vessel trips and anglers in order to collect biological data. We developed a probability sampling design to select samples at all stages of sample selection. A pilot study was implemented to evaluate the sampling design from July to September 2012. We will discuss the challenges presented in the design and implementation of this sampling design, our solution to these approaches, and a comparison of the results obtained from the pilot study as well as from data collected using the standard approach the previous and following years.