Summary

The Angler Catch Research Program (ACRP) was established to collect information on NSW recreational fisheries.  It is a survey that collects information directly from anglers.  As well as being a mechanism for monitoring recreational fishing in N.S.W., it also allows anglers a role in the management of their fishery.

This Recreational Fishing Trust funded program was initiated in Basscatch events and has been expanded to collect data from 12 annual tournaments in the Murray Darling Basin (MDB).

Data are collected via ‘Fishing Report Forms’ that are issued to each angler.  These cards record the fishing effort as hours per day, catch by species and the lengths of all fish caught.  The anglers voluntarily return the completed Fishing Report Forms.

This form of sampling collects fisheries information directly from the anglers involved.  The sampling methodology is relatively cheap as it utilizes the competing anglers to collect data.  It also allows the anglers to directly contribute to the management of their fishery and helps foster a sense of responsibility for fisheries management.  Problems associated with collection of data from tournament anglers include a lack of standardisation of tournaments, reporting motivation and verification of angler accuracy.

The tournaments monitored in the MDB are geographically broad and cover all the major western drainage waterways in NSW.  Moreover, sampling of tournaments also covers high levels of targeted effort for some important endemic species such as Murray cod in certain sections of the Murray River.  Thus the data collected are useful in state-wide assessments of riverine health, especially with regard the distributions and relative numbers of susceptible endemic species like Murray cod compared to introduced pest species like carp.  The data are also useful in stock assessments of Murray cod due to the intensive data collection annually in consistent sections of the Murray River (e.g. the long time series for Lake and other tournaments along the Murray River.