Applicability of the Optimization Sample Allocation Method in the for-Hire Survey

The National Marine Fisheries Service of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration had been refining the design of the For-Hire Telephone Survey on the Atlantic coast to improve precision of the recreational fishing effort estimates. In this study, we calculated sample size for each state using Neyman allocation method based on the sample variances in historical data and compared with the sample size obtained from proportional allocation method.  We also investigated the use of optimal allocation with a consideration of cost for the survey.