CreelCat, a Catalog of United States Inland Creel and Angler Survey Data

Nicholas A Sievert; Abigail J Lynch; Holly S Embke; Ashley Robertson; Mitchel Lang; Anna L Kaz; Matthew D Robertson; Stephen R Midway; Lyndsie Wszola; Craig P Paukert

doi:10.1038/s41597-023-02523-2

CreelCat, a Catalog of United States Inland Creel and Angler Survey Data

Sci Data. 2023 Nov 3;10(1):762. doi: 10.1038/s41597-023-02523-2.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ U.S. Geological Survey, Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education, Reston, VA, 20192, USA. nsievert@usgs.gov.
² U.S. Geological Survey, National Climate Adaptation Science Center, Reston, VA, 20192, USA.
³ U.S. Geological Survey, Midwest Climate Adaptation Science Center, Saint Paul, MN, 55108, USA.
⁴ George Mason University, Department of Environmental Science and Policy, Fairfax, VA, 22030, USA.
⁵ University of Virginia, Department of Environmental Sciences, Charlottesville, VA, 22904, USA.
⁶ Department of Oceanography and Coastal Sciences, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA, 70803, USA.
⁷ Centre for Fisheries Ecosystems Research, Fisheries and Marine Institute of Memorial University of Newfoundland, P.O. Box 4920, St. John's, NL, A1C 5R3, Canada.
⁸ Missouri Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit, The School of Natural Resources, University of Missouri, Columbia, Missouri, 65211, USA.
⁹ U.S. Geological Survey, Missouri Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit, The School of Natural Resources, University of Missouri, Columbia, Missouri, 65211, USA.

Abstract

The United States Inland Creel and Angler Survey Catalog (CreelCat) contains a national compilation of angler and creel survey data collected by natural resource management agencies across the United States (including Washington, D.C. and Puerto Rico). These surveys are used to help inform the management of recreational fisheries, by collecting information about anglers including what they are catching and harvesting, the amount of effort they expend, their angling preferences, and demographic information. As of May 1, 2023, CreelCat houses over 14,729 surveys from 33 states, Puerto Rico, and Washington, D.C., comprising 235 data fields across 8 tables. These tables contain 235,015 records of fish catch and harvest metrics, 27,250 angler preference metrics, 14,729 records of survey characteristics, 13,576 records of effort metrics, and 409 records of angler demographics. Though individual creel surveys are often deployed to meet local science and management objectives, creel data aggregated across jurisdictions has the potential to address larger scale research and management needs.

Publication types

Dataset

Grants and funding

G23AS00070/Department of the Interior | U.S. Geological Survey (United States Geological Survey)