TSF SHARK DATA COLLECTION PROGRAM

1. PREPARED BY CHRISTOPHER DEAVER SEPTEMBER 2008 TSF SHARK DATA COLLECTION PROGRAM

2. PROJECT OVERVIEW

3. PROJECT OVERVIEW • Purpose of the project is to collect catch data to provide information for our members to improve angler effectiveness. • The design of the study will focus on the Angler as the customer of the final deliverables.

4. PROJECT OVERVIEW • TSF is uniquely positioned, as the most active shark fishing website in the world, to have the capability and resources to carry out such a project. • The project will be conducted in a no-competition format to improve the accuracy of catch data.

5. PROJECT OVERVIEW • Deliverables • Quarterly studies published containing twenty+ graphs and analysis of catch data. • Calendar format information by region, species, water temperature, and angler density, etc. • Personal angler catch information will not be released to the public.

6. PROJECT OVERVIEW • Time Horizon of Study • Over two dozen variables will be measured and interpreted. • As the data set grows in size, more precise analysis will be possible. • We will be looking to acquire 200 to 400 shark catch measurements annually.

7. PROJECT OVERVIEW • Time Horizon of Study • We expect to require 3 years to reach our target of 1,000 catch measurements and interpret the majority of important relationships for our Anglers. • Many statistical analysis require minimum sample sizes of 30, to be able to draw larger statistical inferences (central limit theorem) on items measured with normal distributions. • Much information will be available from the first year of the study, however we will be able to do much better analysis as this data set grows beyond 300 catches.

8. PROJECT CONTROLS

9. PROJECT CONTROLS • DATA ACCOUNTING SYSTEM • There must be an effective internal control system over record keeping to assure all measurements are accurate, data measurements use uniform standards, and data is safeguarded from loss.

10. PROJECT CONTROLS • DATA ACCOUNTING SYSTEM • Data will be recorded on individual cards (the TSF Data Card) which are mailed to the designated record keeping location, to be assigned a control number and entered into a database, with the paper copy filed for transaction support. • Shark tagging information may also be forwarded with the TSF data card.

11. PROJECT CONTROLS • DATA ACCOUNTING SYSTEM • There will be 20 data items measured by the angler per catch. Cards are constructed so the angler just circles the measurements on the card to achieve unity of measurement standards. • In addition to the information on the data card, we will retrieve 6 marine weather data series to add the measurements of tide level, major and minor periods, water temperature, wind direction, etc. This relieves the burden on the angler of measuring tide, water temperature, wind speed, and other data which are already measured in marine weather stations close by.

12. PROJECT CONTROLS • DATA ACCOUNTING SYSTEM • Anglers will be allowed to report incomplete data on significant catches. This goes along with the long standing tradition of controlling information about certain catches. The angler may not want to share the location or bait, but may be willing to share time of day, physical measurements of the shark, sex, and distance bait had been deployed. We prefer anglers omit information rather than report misleading information, which botches analysis.

13. PROJECT CONTROLS • DATA ACCOUNTING SYSTEM • A data collection card will be generated for each state. Currently there is a card for Texas. We will need to confer with the members in other states and identify the major geographic location breakdown. • Due to the culture on the Florida scene, we will probably break the entire state into four regions, with no specific locations. Fishing locations are hard to come by in that state, and anglers may not want to document a catch with detail of less than a 200-300 mile wide zone. Florida will probably divided into Northern Atlantic, Southern Atlantic, Southern Gulf of Mexico Side, Northwest Gulf of Mexico.

14. PROJECT CONTROLS • DATA ACCOUNTING SYSTEM • TSF will maintain security over catch data. The catch data set will not be released to parties which may wish to regulate fishing at some future date.

15. PROJECT CONTROLS • RESOURCE PLAN • Adam Baker is the Project Director. • Matt Jesberg, Texas Operations Manager, will focus on member participation, promoting the program among members, as well as leading operational execution on the beach. • Christopher Deaver is the Executive Project Champion. • We will recruit Operation Managers for other states in the program.

16. PROJECT CONTROLS • RESOURCE PLAN • We will need approximately 20 active participants to launch the program who can commit to turning in 5 catches every three months, with the exception of the winter months. We believe this number of anglers will allow us to reach our collection targets of 100 catches for each quarter, except for the summer. • Participants can help the program by recording data on catches by other anglers at locations such as piers, jetties, or the beach.

17. SHARK DATA COLLECTION

18. SHARK DATA COLLECTION • DATA COLLECTION CARD • All measurements are discrete integers, simplifying data analysis. • ‘Circle the answer’ makes the card extremely user friendly. • A paper card means all can participate regardless of computer literacy.

19. SHARK DATA COLLECTION • DATA COLLECTION CARD • Anglers can write in the species if it is not on the card. • We want to measure the proportions of the shark to extrapolate weight using the fork length x girth x girth / 800 formula.

20. SHARK DATA COLLECTION • DATA COLLECTION CARD • Mating scars are obvious bites on the shark. • Bait and distance deployed provide great information on how far out the sharks are during seasons of the year. • Size of bait, and bait condition provide other interesting information.

21. SHARK DATA COLLECTION • DATA COLLECTION CARD • Other variable map information about seaweed trends, sunlight, moon light, and water clarity • We will pull moon phase information from other sources to complement the Anglers data.

22. SHARK DATA COLLECTION • DATA COLLECTION CARD • Location of the catch allows the data set to be mapped into a calendar. • Micro-geography shows catch data relative to passes and the interaction between the bays and the ocean by time of year.

23. SHARK DATA COLLECTION • DATA COLLECTION CARD • The data gathered will not comprehensively describe shark activity, but it will model angler success.

24. SHARK DATA COLLECTION • DATA COLLECTION CARD • Here is the data card file in Excel: • Mail in address for your data cards: Adam Baker 6810 Loch Langham Drive Houston, TX 77084

25. SHARK DATA COLLECTION • DATA COLLECTION CARD • We will be setting up unique member albums in our Coppermine Program for all the participants to log their catches. This will be your own catch album. We will pull your uploaded pictures from this program. Please label the date, size, and time of your catch as you upload it in the photo album.

26. SHARK DATA COLLECTION • DATA COLLECTION CARD • We do ask anglers to report catches at the exact size the shark is. Please tell it like it is. Believe me we will run ANOVA screens to see if any anglers are submitting catches that look like they come from a different data sets. If someone wants to stretch the catch, we will bust them. I think everyone wants a good data set. • If someone is stretching the catch, we will exclude their data from analysis. This insures the anglers that report good information get a quality quarterly report with good analysis based on clean data.

27. PROJECT KICK OFF • DEVELOP DATA CARDS FOR OTHER STATES • REGISTER MEMBERS FOR PROGRAM • START COLLECTING THE FIRST 50 CATCH RECORDS