Abstract

The Gulf of Mexico fishery resources are a source of economic, biological. nutritional and recreational wealth An important sub-segment of sportfishing demand is the recreational fo-hire vessel fleet, commonly called charter and party boats. Understanding the distribution. characteristics, and species targeting of charter/party boat operations gives resource allocation decision makers important information about demand. In addition. a more solid basis far justifying differential restrictions (i.e. bap limits, size restrictions, etc.) can be established. Charter and party boat fleets operate in the recreational fishing business sector, the tourism sector, and some operate in the commercial fishing sector, simultaneously. They provide an affordable, movable platlorm for sport fishermen to access Gulf and Caribbean fisheries. This builds support and appreciation for fisheries resources amon g the public. On the other hand, advances in technology and the number of boats (each with multiple fishermen) increase demand, particularly in offshore areas, and can aggravate stock depletion problems. Empirical evidence suggests substantial growth in this industry. According t o the Marine Recreational Fishcries Statistics Survey data, charter fishing trips have grown from 816,000 in 1990 to 1,631,000 in 1995 for a 128% increase in the Gulf and South Atlanlic states. According to our 1988 study. the primary fisheries involved in the charter/party boat fisheries are grouper, snapper, king mackerel, dolphin, amberjack, spotted seatrout, and red drum. However, results indicated that some effort was directed at 23 different species, virtually every sportfish available. Regional species targeting differences are discussed in this paper. One current unknown factor, is the size and location of the for-hire sector based in Mexico; number of trips and catch data. The author discuss plans to update information on this changing industry with a ten-year update through captain interviews in 1998.

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