Incorporating Time‐Lapse Digital Cameras into Creel Surveys at Three Alabama Reservoirs

Abstract

We compared different creel survey methods at three Alabama reservoirs (Harris, Jordan, and Mitchell) to identify approaches that could improve precision. We were particularly interested in whether boat trailer counts from time‐lapse photos taken at boat ramp parking lots could be used as an index of fishing effort to improve the temporal coverage of sampling. Angler effort was estimated independently using roving creels, access point creels, and aerial census counts and compared with fixed‐location digital camera images of trailers at boat ramps. Digital camera counts of trailers correlated with angler effort from aerial census, access point creel surveys, and roving creel surveys. This finding suggests that time‐lapse digital cameras as a sampling method to obtain angler effort may provide a feasible method once calibrated to a system. Best‐fitting models for relationships between time‐lapse trailer counts and the other creel methods included covariates for season and day type (weekend versus weekday) effects, but not reservoir and time‐of‐day effects. The inclusion of effort predicted from time‐lapse digital cameras incorporated with roving creel surveys did not statistically affect the magnitude of effort estimates but substantially increased the precision of effort estimates.