Between 2006 and 2008, Ifremer, in collaboration with the polling institute BVA, implemented a pilot survey of french recreational fisheries. The aim of the survey was to assess the overall population involved in this activity, taking into account the diversity of recreational fishing practices, from fish and shellfish gathering on the seashore to angling and spearfishing. The study was designed to provide first estimates of fishing effort, catches and landings, and economic impacts of recreational fishing.

The protocol implemented was two-step. First, a telephone survey of french households, based on a sampling frame of the entire french population of people aged 15+, was carried out to assess the population of fishers and give a first general view of the diversity of fishing practices. Information was also collected regarding catches and landings and expenditure at various temporal scale. Second, on-site surveys were carried out to establish more precise measures of catches and expenditure per fishing trip. Sampling schemes for both phases of the survey work were designed such that data collected from telephone and on-site surveys could be confronted and used jointly in the estimation of catches and expenditure by fishers at the national level.

The paper presents the methodology developed and first results obtained based on the telephone survey.