Report of the Working Group on Recreational Fisheries Surveys (WGRFS)

The ICES Working Group on Recreational Fisheries Surveys (WGRFS) role is to summarise and quality assure recreational fishery data collected under the EU Data Collection Framework (DCF-EC 199/2008 and 2010/93/EU) and control regulations (EC 1224/2009), and provide advice for ICES on recreational fishing issues. In 2015, 32 scientists from 15 countries attended the WGRFS with the aim to: share current na-tional surveys; develop estimates for RSF at a European scale; compile information on diadromous species; review post-release mortality estimates; characterise the spear-fishing sector; evaluate the quality of national recreational catch sampling schemes; assess methods for validating surveys; review the use of recreational fishing data in stock assessments; investigate methods for the reconstruction of historical catches; provide advice on future EU data collection requirements; and assess potential inter-actions between RSF and environmental legislation (Section 1). Expert advice is pro-vided on how to take each of these areas forward.The ICES Working Group on Recreational Fisheries Surveys (WGRFS) role is to summarise and quality assure recreational fishery data collected under the EU Data Collection Framework (DCF-EC 199/2008 and 2010/93/EU) and control regulations (EC 1224/2009), and provide advice for ICES on recreational fishing issues. In 2015, 32 scientists from 15 countries attended the WGRFS.