A Statistical Method for Analyzing Data Collected by a Creel/Angler Survey (Part 2)

This article describes a unique analytical method employed to characterize angler activities on the lower 6-mile stretch of the Passaic River in New Jersey. The method used data collected by a creel/angler survey that was designed to capture the information necessary to calculate the exposure factors needed to characterize the fish consumption pathway for recreational anglers in a human health risk assessment for the river. The survey used two methods to address the challenges of conducting a creel/angler survey in an urban and industrial setting with limited river access. While unique, the analytical method described in this article is based upon accepted methods of interpreting survey data and basic laws of probability. This article was written as a companion to two other articles, also in this issue and cited here, of which one describes in detail the survey methodology designed for the lower Passaic River creel/angler survey to meet various challenges unique to conducting such a survey in urban and industrialized rivers, and the other presents, validates, and interprets the results of the lower Passaic River work relating to human exposure factors using the methodology described in this article.