Sea bass bust !

Originally Posted by courbeco

Exactly what is the purpose of the "Saltwater Registry"

Stated reason is as follows:

In 2006 the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) was charged with the creation of a universal phonebook – or registry – of all current saltwater anglers in the United States. The registry was developed to allow NOAA to quickly and easily contact current saltwater anglers in an effort to gain more accurate and timely information on recreational fisheries.

Operative words here are "more accurate and timely"! Very relative terminology and in my opinion at best still an educated guess. Data from the various state registries are a key component used by NOAA / NMFS in MRIP (Marine Recreational Information Program) which is a means of trying to quantify annual recreational catch levels by fisheries management. Changes in how they collect the data and ultimately calculate recreational catch for past years is what led to the disparity in 2019 of recreational anglers being handed status quo while the commercial quota received a 40% increase. Commmercial landings, for the most part, are arrived at by trip reports. MRIP is used for the recreational sector. How the entire process works from data collection to arriving at a final landings / discard number I couldn't answer. It would be interesting to understand that since it's arguably one of the main drivers regarding how quota levels are determined.