Cooperate with the dock surveys
No Andrew,
This is an improved way to gather data on recreational take. It was the lack of data that allowed the enviros to spew all kinds of exaggerated claims of "no fish left" at the CI. The new gathering method, eyeballing, measuring, etc., and this happens on the party boats too, is something RFA and the party boat association (SAC) lobbied for in Washington. The funds came forth.
Also helping was that a study by the National Academy of Science declared the former way of gathering rec data (random phone calls) unscientific and caused gross false estimates of rec take and fish abundance. Cooperate with them. They are not DFG officers but employees, many of them graduate students. They cannot cite anyone and have no interest in doing so, only gathering data. Data is good. If they have a badge and a gun, they are DFG officers. These data folks are armed with pencils and forms and measuring devices, the stuff of statistics.
Fish the Tides - Freddie