Recent Challenges, Upgrades and Insights in the Monitoring of California's Marine Recreational Fisheries

California’s marine recreational fisheries are large and complex. Along 1,000 coastal miles, diverse habitats support hundreds of species targeted by recreational anglers who take more than 4 million trips annually from hundreds of sites. The California Recreational Fisheries Survey (CRFS) provides monthly estimates of effort and catch for all fishing modes in six management areas, as well as data on fish biology, angler behavior and catch location. Besides the fisheries’ size and complexity, other notable challenges have shaped CRFS, including:  (1) need for relatively high spatial-temporal resolution of data and estimates to help regulate actively-managed species including stocks under rebuilding plans, (2) budgetary constraints and a variable budgetary landscape, and (3) requirements and opportunities of the federal Marine Recreational Information Program. Meeting these challenges has generated insights and innovations in sampling design and estimation procedures. For instance:  telephone survey data can credibly be used in ratios to estimate non-field-sampled private-access boat effort; trip-types can aid robust catch estimation if properly structured; and mandatory party/charter boat logs with a compliance survey can effectively estimate effort. The poster illustrates these and other insights and innovations, and highlights remaining challenges which we invite colleagues’ help to meet.