Part of a series of articles titled Picturing the Unseen.
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Adapting a Useful Fisheries Tool to One-of-a-Kind Landscapes
Two interns discover that, like the parks themselves, national park creel surveys are never the same.
By Madelyn Lewis and Lydia Mussack
About this article
This article was first published online on March 31, 2026, as part of the Picturing the Unseen series.
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Fishing is a popular pastime at many national parks across the country. The National Park Service has generally permitted this historic practice, in accordance with federal regulations. Sustaining healthy fisheries relies on protecting the freshwater and marine environments that fish inhabit. But sometimes parks don’t have enough information to understand anglers’ experiences and support their fisheries. This can adversely affect park resources and local economies. Creel surveys (also called angler surveys) are commonly used to obtain this information. During our summer 2025 Scientist in Parks internships, we did creel surveys in Biscayne and Isle Royale national parks and at Assateague Island National Seashore.
Most anglers were willing to talk to us, with less than one percent declining an interview.
Our goal was to help the parks learn more about fish populations, fishing patterns, and angler satisfaction. We found that for all parks, most anglers were willing to talk to us, with less than one percent declining an interview. Though we conducted the same survey in each park, we had to adapt to different circumstances, because the ecosystems and infrastructure were different from park to park. Biscayne, for example, had marinas, whereas Isle Royale had docks at different islands, and Assateague had an over-sand vehicle area. Our experiences can help staff in other parks undertake their own creel surveys.
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Technically Correct
Our surveys followed technical guidelines developed by a team of National Park Service fishery biologists and park natural resource staff. The creel surveys had three parts: the count, the interviews, and the biodata. We counted things like the number of boats, fishing rods, or people fishing. The interviews were entirely voluntary and typically consisted of 10-15 questions about satisfaction, areas fished, and fish species preferred. The number of questions varied depending on the park and anglers’ answers. If anglers said they hadn’t caught fish, for example, we didn’t ask questions about their harvest. We collected biodata by sampling fish and measuring their length, among other metrics.
We used what we learned from the previous two parks and worked with the seashore’s natural resource team to develop a customized survey.
At Biscayne, we counted boat trailers in a marina parking lot and used an access-point creel survey. This meant interviewing anglers after they returned from their fishing trips and measuring the fish they caught. At Isle Royale National Park, which is in the middle of Lake Superior and is 99 percent wilderness, we used different methods. We worked with the Michigan Department of Natural Resources to count fishing boats on the water, interview anglers at campsites on different islands, and take biodata when possible.
Assateague Island National Seashore had never done a creel survey. So we used what we learned from the previous two parks and worked with the seashore’s natural resource team to develop a customized survey. We did the survey on the surf side of the seashore, driving down the beach while counting rods in the water, interviewing anglers, and measuring their fish.
NPS / Lisa Giris
Better Prepared
At Biscayne, our work added to data from an already established creel survey program. Fishing is part of the culture at the park, and a necessity for some people. All the fish we measured were kept by the anglers for eating. Biscayne uses these data to understand how fishing regulations affect anglers’ ability to catch the fish they want.
"We can compare before versus after the new regulations for things like average size of landed fish for different target species."
"We can compare before versus after the new regulations for things like average size of landed fish for different target species,” said Vanessa McDonough, a biologist at Biscayne. She said the park also assesses changes in catch-per-unit effort, angler satisfaction, and proportion of landings that are compliant with the regulations.
NPS / Penelope Kay Hollingsworth (artist)
Isle Royale had not conducted a creel survey since 1998. The park will use the information from the creel surveys to help conserve its fishery.
Isle Royale ecologist Lynette Potvin said the park’s resource managers are now “better prepared to understand angler effort and catch rates and assess the health of our fishery.”
At Isle Royale, anglers primarily catch the native lake trout (scientific name: Salvelinus namaycush), which are a keystone species in Lake Superior.
The creel survey program at Assateague that we helped establish gave the seashore crucial baseline data. Assateague can use this information to determine what it needs to focus on when planning future work.
NPS / Pete Wintersteen
No Park Is the Same
Our work shows that how creel surveys are conducted depends greatly on local conditions. No park is the same. Our results will help the parks we surveyed test the outcome of fishing regulations, carry out changes to enhance anglers’ experiences, and protect aquatic resources. They’ll also give staff in other National Park Service units insights into ways to deploy creel surveys in their own parks and what to expect when they do.
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This article is available for unedited republication, free of charge. We ask that you use the following credit: Originally published as “Adapting a Useful Fisheries Tool to One-of-a-Kind Landscapes” on nps.gov, March 31, 2026.
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Cite this article
Lewis, Madelyn, and Lydia Mussack. 2026. “Adapting a Useful Fisheries Tool to One-of-a-Kind Landscapes.” National Park Service, March 31, 2026. https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/psv40n1_adapting-a-useful-fisheries-tool-to-one-of-a-kind-landscapes.htm
Last updated: March 31, 2026