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I've read Charlie's take on it before and I certainly can't explain it. But OTOH the NMFS estimates of striped bass catches must have come from the charter/party survey, which is also self-reported! There is no incentive for anyone to lie on their VTRs, so I would guess that some guys just fail to file the required VTRs. No matter how you cut it, almost all data on recreational catches is self reported, all of the MRIP data is based on the number of self reported fishing trips. When the guy from Quantec calls me for the party/charter survey, I am self reporting what was caught on my boat.
When it comes to recreational catch data there really is no other choice but self reporting, since there is no other way to verify the amount of dead fish landed, unlike the commercial side where you have dealer reports to verify the VTR data.
The next meeting of the NEFMC RAP is supposed to get a presentation on MRIP and I for one will be paying close attention.
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