In 1999 the South Australian Centre for Economic Studies (SACES) undertook a large scale survey of mainly boat fishers to apply the contingent valuation method to estimate consumer surplus from marine recreational fishing in New Zealand. A brief summary of the survey results are here. 

The SACES study used responses from over 3500 interviews undertaken between December 1998 and April 1999. The interviews were to assess the value of five individual fish species: snapper, kingfish, blue cod, kahawai and rock lobster (crayfish).

Overall, there were some questions about the method used and estimate generated by this study. No attempt was made to estimate the economic impact of recreational fishing in New Zealand as a whole and the report was largely buried by the Fisheries Ministry who had paid for its production. SACES report in full here.