David Van Voorhees, U.S. Department of Commerce National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Marine Fisheries Service, Fisheries Statistics and Economics Division, F/STI, 1315 East-West Highway, Silver Spring, MD 20910

Abstract. The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) is working with the cooperation of the Gulf States Marine Fisheries Commission (GSMFC), the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (ALDCNR), the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FLDEP), the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries (LDWF), and the Mississippi Bureau of Marine Resources (MBMR) to develop more efficient survey methods for the estimation of fishing effort and catch from charter boats. The Marine Recreational Fishery Statistics Survey (MRFSS) of the NMFS currently relies on a random-digit-dialing telephone survey of fishing effort by residents of coastal county households. This method is relatively inefficient for estimating charter angler fishing effort because most charter anglers are not coastal residents. The NMFS has funded pilot tests of two new charter boat survey methods -- a pilot telephone survey of charter boats and a pilot logbook panel survey of charter boats. Both pilot surveys use a list of charter boats as a sampling frame. Data collections for the pilot surveys started in September, 1997, and will continue through August, 1998, to allow a full year of side-by-side comparisons with the current MRFSS method. The GSMFC is coordinating conduct of the pilot telephone survey by LDWF, MBMR, ALDCNR and FLDEP. The NMFS Panama City Lab is conducting the pilot logbook panel survey in the Florida Panhandle area. This presentation will explain the pilot survey designs, review preliminary pilot survey results and address differences among the alternative survey methods in respondent burden, response rates, and the relative precision of estimates.