Statewide Sport Fish Harvest Survey for effort, catch, and harvest estimates, Alaska, 1996-2016

• Main Author: Alaska Department of Fish and Game, Division of Sport Fish
• Format: Dataset
• Language: unknown
• Published: Knowledge Network for Biocomplexity 2017
• Subjects: harvest; sport fishing; featured; well being; Oncorhynchus nerka; Oncorhynchus keta; Oncorhynchus gorbuscha; Oncorhynchus tshawytscha; Oncorhynchus kisutch; Arctic; Yukon; Keta; Norton Sound; Kodiak; Kuskokwim; Alaska; Aleutian Islands
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.5063/F1RR1WHQ

The Sport Fish Division of the Alaska Department of Fish and Game conducts an annual mail survey to estimate sport fish harvest and catch by fisheries, areas, regions in which the fish were caught, and species. Obtaining these data provides decision-makers with the information needed to maintain, protect, and improve recreational fisheries.The survey was first implemented in 1977, capturing harvest only metrics, but was expanded to include harvest plus fish caught and released in 1990. The current version of the survey was last revised in 2011 and is now designed to capture guided and non-guided fishing activity throughout the state of Alaska. The Alaska Sport Fishing Survey database made data from 1996 to 2016 available through a query application. Prior years data have not been included in this dataset, but can be found in historic publications (https://www.adfg.alaska.gov/sf/sportfishingsurvey/index.cfm?ADFG=main.historic). In accordance with guidelines established by Mills and Howe, other than to document that sport fishing occurred, estimates based on fewer than 12 responses should not be used. Estimates based on 12 to 29 responses can be useful in indicating relative orders of magnitude and for assessing long-term trends. Estimates based on 30 or more responses are generally useable. More information about the survey is available at the Alaska Sport Fishing Survey webpage (http://www.adfg.alaska.gov/sf/sportfishingsurvey/). In this dataset is the original excel file, an R script that reformats this file, and 3 csv files derived from the original file. Also included are two ADFG reports, in pdf format, which explain how these data are gathered and processed by ADFG.