Premium
Anglersˈ Catch Records in California
Author(s) -
Curtis Brian
Publication year - 1940
Publication title -
transactions of the american fisheries society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.696
H-Index - 86
eISSN - 1548-8659
pISSN - 0002-8487
DOI - 10.1577/1548-8659(1939)69[125:acric]2.0.co;2
Subject(s) - fishing , geography , sample (material) , population , fishery , license , reliability (semiconductor) , fish <actinopterygii> , census , statistics , demography , computer science , mathematics , biology , power (physics) , chemistry , physics , chromatography , quantum mechanics , sociology , operating system
California has had in operation for three years a system whereby the angler is requested to make on his application for an angling license a voluntary record of the number of fish which he caught the preceding year, listed by species and by county in which they were caught. From 75,000 to 90,000 anglers have reported annually, a three‐year average of about 27 per cent of the licensees. Improvements have been made in the system as the need for them became apparent, the most important one having been the operation of a “Second Call” questionnaire in 1938 to sample the make‐up and activities of the non‐reporting portion of the angling population. The data having to do with numbers of anglers, as for instance, the number who report fishing for each species, may be considered to have a high degree of reliability. The data having to do with numbers of fish caught, as for instance, the total reported catch of any species, are of uncertain reliability. However, comparison of the figures from year to year suggests that considerable confidence can be placed in the results. Estimates are also made of the activities of the non‐reporting part of the angling population, based on the records of those who do report. These estimates are corrected from time to time as new and hitherto unmeasured factors are brought into the picture. These estimates compare satisfactorily from year to year in order of magnitude. Disadvantages and uncertainties of the system are listed, the outstanding one being the difficulty of determining the extent to which the records of the reporting anglers form a true representation of the activities of the non‐reporting anglers. A method of direct sampling of the angling population is in the experimental stage, which, it is hoped, will eliminate some of the defects in the present system. The voluntary system is compared with the mandatory system. The weakness of the former is found to be the uncertainty as to whether the records truly represent the non‐reporting population; of the latter, the uncertainty as to the reliability of records obtained under legal compulsion from possibly unwilling participants, and also, the difficulty of enforcement.