EU request on data needs for monitoring of recreational fisheries

ICES has identified that the main drivers for the collection of recreational fishery data are: providing advice on fishing opportunities, designing and evaluating management measures for recreational fisheries, developing fishery management plans and strategies, and supporting the development of marine spatial planning. The data needed to support the scientific advice, and how these data are or could be used, are discussed for each of these drivers. The data needed depends on the type of advice and the scientific methods used in developing the advice. ICES is therefore not able to develop a generic list of recreational fishery data that would meet all needs for data in support of scientific advice. The species covered, type of data to collect, frequency of data collection, spatio-temporal resolution and target precision of recreational fishery catch estimates should be established on a regional basis with expert advice. With regards to data collected under the EU Data Collection Framework (DCF) (EU, 2008), ICES supports the process for evaluating end-user needs for data suggested by STECF (STECF, 2013) to deliver a balanced and cost-effective programme of data collection across recreational and commercial fisheries in each region.