Science activity

The California Recreational Fisheries Survey (CRFS) mission is to collect fishery-dependent data on California’s marine recreational fisheries, and to accurately estimate catch and effort in a time frame and on a scale that meets management needs. CRFS collects the data necessary to estimate catch and effort for California’s diverse recreational finfish fisheries which range from the California-Mexico border to the California-Oregon border extending over 1,100 miles of coast, and is surveyed at over 400 sampling sites. Annually, CRFS conducts over 7,000 sampling assignments and contacts over 68,000 fishing parties. High sampling rates produce confidence in estimates with a 20 percent sample rate of private boat anglers during salmon or groundfish seasons. CRFS collects the data to produce the estimates for all sport-caught finfish.