Survey participants plotted activity points using an interactive mapping tool.The 2012 Northeast Recreational Boater Survey was conducted by SeaPlan, the Northeast Regional Ocean Council (NROC), states’ coastal agencies, marine trade associations composed of many private industry representatives, and the First Coast Guard District. The methodology for the 2012 Northeast Recreational Boater Survey follows a protocol similar to the 2010 Massachusetts Survey with modifications based on the lessons learned and recommendations suggested in the Massachusetts Survey Final Report.The methodology consists of surveying a random sample of selected boat owners throughout the Northeast through a series of monthly online surveys. The surveying period lasted throughout the 2012 boating season (May 1 through October 31, 2012), which was identified by the advisory committee (consisting of NROC and representatives from the recreational boating industry).The project team decided to use a random sample survey approach because it successfully gathered statistically robust economic and spatial data on recreational boating activity by Massachusetts registered boaters during the 2010 boating season. This was also the only approach that would allow for the calculation of statistically robust economic impact estimates for both the states and the region, which was identified as a priority (along withspatial data) by both NROC and the boating industry.

This dataset can be used by coastal planners in ocean planning activities to develop a better understanding of how and where humans use the ocean in the Northeast to inform regional ocean planning and minimize ocean use conflicts. This effort also fulfilled a recommendation from the 2010 Massachusetts Survey to expand the survey’s geographic range to the Northeast Region, allowing for the capture of interstate traffic between states in the Northeast. Furthermore, this dataset can also be used by the boating industry to show the importance of recreational boating to the region and to inform business planning.

Supplemental Information; SURVEY SAMPLING METHODOLOGY - The sample for this survey came from seven databases, including the U.S. Coast Guard Documented Vessel Database and databases of state registered boaters from New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Maine. Recreational boaters who owned vessels that met the following criteria were eligible for the survey: * Registration: Currently registered with a state in the Northeast and/or registered as a documented vessel with the U.S. Coast Guard, with a hailing port in the Northeast * Primary Use: Recreational use designation * Length: At least 10 feet in length * Saltwater (if specified; only Maine and New Hampshire required this information) * Location: Located in a “coastal county”. The survey team defined “coastal counties” as those that border saltwater, or those that were highlighted by state coastal planners as likely containing large amount of saltwater boating activity. Based on the 2010 Massachusetts Survey and budgetary considerations, the project team determined an overall sample size that would provide sufficient spatial and economic data for both each state, as well as the whole Northeast. Because of the, at times, large discrepancies between the number of eligible boats in some states, the team decided that certain states with fewer eligible boats should also have a supplemental sample of boats in addition to the pure random sample. To ensure the sample represented the total population of registered boats in the Northeast, the sampling method included considerations of state, geography and size class. Of the 373,766 boats eligible for the survey, the base of randomly sampled boats included 50,000 boats from across all six states. In addition to this base, the survey team sampled 17,772 boats as a supplemental sample, including: 1,772 boats of 26 feet in length or more from across all six states to increase the number of large boats in the sample, and 16,000 additional boats to ensure each state had enough responses for the statistical analysis. These included 10,000 boats from Maine, 2,500 boats from Rhode Island, 2,000 boats from New Hampshire and 1,500 boats from Connecticut. This resulted in a total of 67,772 boaters invited to participate in the study. Boater Recruitment and Response: In the survey invitation package, the survey team also sent invited boaters a questionnaire to verify eligibility to participate in the survey. Eligibility requirements consist of: boat is used in saltwater; boat is used for recreational purposes; and boaters have access to the internet with a working email address. 12,218 boaters responded to the invitation; however only 7,800 of these respondents were found to meet all of the above criteria. From this sample, 4,297 individual boaters completed at least one monthly survey. Surveying Process: The study consisted of six monthly surveys and one end of season survey. The online monthly surveys gathered spatial and economic data on recreational boating activity that occurred during the previous month. The online survey had two parts: 1) a survey with questions about general boating activity during the previous month, and the boater’s last trip of the month (specifically focusing on spending), and 2) a mapping application developed by Ecotrust where boaters plotted their boating route and identified any areas where they participated in activities, such as fishing, diving, wildlife viewing, swimming and relaxing at anchor. The end of season survey gathered a variety of information that could not be gathered in the monthly surveys. The end of season survey contained questions about yearly boating-related expenditures (e.g., dockage, storage, taxes, yearly maintenance), feedback on the survey itself, and general boating-related questions (e.g. whether boaters have taken a boating safety course). Density Analysis: The density analysis described in the following paragraphs was vetted by a technical advisory team consisting of representatives from the Massachusetts Office of Coastal Zone Management (MA CZM), NROC, Maine Coastal Program and Applied Science Associates (ASA) and was based on mapping and analysis protocols from the 2010 Massachusetts Survey. To develop the density layer, vessel routes were drawn in WGS 1984 in the Ecotrust mapping application and were imported into Excel, then ArcMap using a data frame in that coordinate system. Routes from the random sample were selected from that data layer, and the data layer was re-projected into two separate shapefiles, one in UTM 18 and one in UTM 19. A line density analysis using a 250 m square grid cell with a 675 m neighborhood was applied to each shapefile. The 675 m neighborhood was applied to account for inherent user error in the mapping tool. The line density analysis resulted in a raster grid for each UTM zone. Each raster was clipped by the boundaries of its UTM zone, re-projected into the North American Albers Equal Area Conic Projection, and the separate rasters were mosaicked together. At the boundary of the two raster grids there was a line of cells with no data value. This was a result of mosaicking rasters that originated in different coordinate systems. To approximate values in the blank cells, each blank cell was populated by a value from a focal statistics calculation. The focal statistics expression took the mean of all cells in a 4x4 neighborhood around each blank cell. The values were then converted to Z-scores using the raster calculator by taking the log of the density values, subtracting the mean value, and dividing the resulting value by the standard deviation of the value. This layer was clipped again using the NOAA medium resolution shoreline dataset. DATA PROCESSING Processing environment: ArcGIS 10.05, Windows 7 Ultimate SP5, Intel Xeon CPU Process Steps Description 1 Raw routes from mapping application imported into ArcMap 2 Routes from random sample selected using select by attributes query 3 Routes projected into two separate shapefiles (UTM Zones 18 & 19) 4 LINE DENSITY tool in spatial analyst applied to each shapefile using a 250 m square grid with a 675 m neighborhood 5 Resulting rasters clipped to their respective UTM Zones using the EXTRACT BY MASK tool 6 Rasters reprojected to North America Albers Equal Area Conic Projection, using PROJECT tool 7 MOSAIC tool used to merge rasters 8 Focal mean expression (4x4 neighborhood) used to approximate and fill cells with no data at the boundary between mosaicked rasters 9 Raster calculator used to calculated Z-scores ([(Ln(Value))-Mean]/Std. Deviation) 10 Raster clipped by NOAA Medium Resolution Shoreline data using EXTRACT BY POLYGON tool QUALITY PROCESS Attribute Accuracy: The lines used to generate the density grid were derived from a mapping tool used by boaters to reconstruct their boating routes. To ensure that boaters included their round-trip route the mapping applications would send the user an error message asking them to re-plot the route or the program would automatically return the route to the starting point. This application also restricted the scale at which users could draw their routes, reducing the amount of error that could occur from plotting routes at too small a scale. Clipping this layer with a regional ocean shapefile derived from the NOAA medium resolution shoreline dataset excluded route density resulting from routes drawn over land, in freshwater, or outside of northeastern waters. Logical Consistency: None Completeness: Only reported routes from the random sample were included. Routes from the supplemental sample were excluded from this analysis. Route density occurring over land, freshwater areas, or outside northeastern waters was excluded by the final geoprocessing step. Positional Accuracy: The positional accuracy of the routes is dependent on the individual reporting routes through the

This dataset contains the file of vehicle, snowmobile and boat registrations in NYS. Registrations expired more than 2 years are excluded. Records that have a scofflaw, revocation and/or suspension are included with indicators specifying those kinds of records.

The Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department maintains developed fishing access areas. These sites provide public access to waters in Vermont for shore fishing opportunities and launching of water craft. The department manages access areas with concrete or gravel ramps for launching and retrieving of boats. Additionally, there are access areas where non-motorized vessels can easily be launched. All access areas are open to hunting, trapping, fishing, and boating. Management and administration of all access areas is primarily funded through the sale of motorboat registration fees and the Sport Fish Restoration Program (SFR). The SFR Program was created to restore and better manage America's declining fishery resources and was modeled after the successful Wildlife Restoration Program. Excise taxes on fishing equipment, motorboat and small engine fuels, import duties, and interest are collected and appropriated from the Sport Fish Restoration and Boating Trust Fund. The Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department uses these monies for acquiring land as well as developing and maintaining boat and fishing access areas. These excise tax dollars, coupled with motorboat registration fees, have been the predominate source of funding for the access program over the last 20 years. Prior to the use of motorboat registration fees, angler license dollars were used in a similar fashion.

dataset of oceangoing, self-propelled, privately-owned U.S.-flag vessels of 1,000 gross tons and above that carry cargo from port to port for commercial and government customers.