Recreational fisheries are complex at many levels. One specific area of complexity is reporting on various components of the sector. Alongside state-wide surveys of the general shore- and boat-based recreational fishery, two other components, the charter boat (tour operator) fishery and the tournament game fishery are assessed through logbook returns in some jurisdictions. The functionality of these returns was investigated for their potential use by Australian Marine Parks (AMPs) and the Australian Fisheries Management Authority (AFMA), with Western Australia (WA) and New South Wales (NSW) used as case studies.