title: Adjusting for undercoverage of access-points in creel surveys with fewer overflights.
abstract: Creel surveys are used in recreational fisheries to estimate angling effort, catch, and harvest. Aerial-access creel surveys rely on two components: (1) a ground component in which fishing parties returning from their trips are interviewed at some access-points of the fishery; (2) an aerial component in which the number of fishing parties is counted. A common practice is to sample fewer aerial survey days than ground survey days. This is thought by practitioners to reduce the cost of the survey, but there is a lack of sound statistical methodology for this case. In this article, we propose various estimation methods to handle this situation and evaluate their asymptotic properties from a design-based perspective. We also propose formulas for the optimal allocation of the effort between the ground and the aerial portion of the survey, for given costs and budget. A simulation study investigates the performance of the estimators. Finally, we apply our methods to data from an annual Kootenay Lake survey (Canada).
authors.affiliation: Department of Statistics and Actuarial Science, Simon Fraser University, Room SC K10545, 8888 University Drive, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada V5A 1S6.
authors.forename: Audrey
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Béliveau
authors.affiliation: Department of Statistics and Actuarial Science, Simon Fraser University, Room SC K10545, 8888 University Drive, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada V5A 1S6.
authors.forename: Richard A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Lockhart
authors.affiliation: Department of Statistics and Actuarial Science, Simon Fraser University, Room SC K10545, 8888 University Drive, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada V5A 1S6.
authors.forename: Carl J
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Schwarz
authors.affiliation: British Columbia Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations, Nelson, British Columbia, Canada.
authors.forename: Steven K
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Arndt
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001699:Biometry / Q000379:methods; D001955:British Columbia; D002170:Canada; D003198:Computer Simulation; D003247:Conservation of Natural Resources / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005398:Fisheries / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005399:Fishes; D060106:Lakes; D015233:Models, Statistical; D011998:Recreation; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
keywords: Aerial-access; Creel survey; Kootenay Lake; Optimal allocation; Two-phase; Undercoverage