The dockside surveys and intercepts are very, very accurate. There have NEVER EVER been enough of them done but they are VERY ACCURATE. But The more you expand those accurate numbers by ESTIMATING how many snapper and what size the fish were that were caught by fisherman WHO WERE NOT SURVEYED...the worse the Guesstimate becomes. HOWEVER...when the MANAGERS get hold of the data it gets twisted beyond belief.
The infamous MRFSS survey was never intended to be used in this way. It was only to ever be used for trend data and not to accurately measure the total catch of any species.
To get it right...as FAIRWATER said we need mandatory reporting of every red snapper. There are ways to do it!