DAVID W. BRITT, Texas A&M University, Department of Wildlife and Fisheries Sciences, College Station, Texas 77843, USA

A study of charter/headboat operators on the Texas Coast was conducted in 1994 to examine TPWD reef use of both recreational fishing and diving interests. The survey had a response rate of 47% from the dive boat captains but 72% response rate from fishing boat captains. The discrepancies in response rates between these two groups was attributed to misconceptions among dive boat operators that the study favored fishing interests. For this reason, the study will be replicated, but this time focusing on the diving community. The study will occur in two stages. The objective of the first stage is to identify the extent charter and head dive boat captains use TPWD artificial reefs. Reef use will be broken down to include the percentage of operators that use reefs, frequency of reef use, number of reef trips, and temporal and spatial patterns of reef use. Second stage objectives include collecting data from individual divers who use dive boats to access artificial reefs. Demographic characteristics, motivations, and economic value of recreational diving at TPWD artificial reef sites will be collected. Diver expenditures will be used to determine the regional economic impact of diving on the coastal economy.