The lack of information on sportfishing locations is an impediment to effective socioeconomic analysis of fishery management policies such as marine protected areas and marine reserves. Additionally, without information on the spatial distribution of fishing effort, it is impossible to adequately assess the impact of fishing on coral reef habitats and related ecosystems and fish abundance. From a policy perspective, information about where anglers fish is crucial to understanding the redistribution of effort and abundance that can be expected after a spatial management policy is enacted. Although detailed information on fishing locations has not been consistently collected for sportfisheries in the United States, there are a number of independent data sources that, together, can provide a more comprehensive picture of the distribution of fishing effort. To this end, this project integrates datasets related to sportfishing in South Florida to enable exploration of the spatial and temporal aspects of angling effort in the region.

The National Marine Fisheries Service Marine Recreational Fishing Statistics Survey, the Headboat Survey, the Southeast Fishery Science Center Aerial Survey, and the Biscayne National Park Recreational Creel Survey have been integrated into the South Florida Sportfishing Geodatabase (SFSGeo). This version of the SFSGeo measures the monthly and annual counts of sportfishing vessels observed in ten minute square aggregated fishing areas (AFAs) off the coast of Palm Beach, Broward, Dade, and Monroe counties. The vessel counts are available for private and for-hire fishing modes from 1991 to 2003. Further information on the operation of the SFSGeo web-tool is available in the User Guide and the project background is described in the Design Document.