CommunitySurvey_OMBSupportingStatement_081508_parta

SUPPORTING STATEMENT
West Coast Community Economic Data Collection
NOAA Fisheries - Northwest Fisheries Science Center
OMB CONTROL NO. 0648-xxxx

A.

JUSTIFICATION

1. Explain the circumstances that make the collection of information necessary.
NOAA Fisheries proposes to collect information, pertaining to the economic utilization of marine
resources by coastal communities on the West Coast, that will improve fishery management;
satisfy legal mandates under Executive Order 12866 and National Standard 8 of the Magnuson
Steven Fishery Conservation and Management Act (U.S.C. 1801 et seq.); and quantify
achievement of the performances measures in the NMFS Strategic Operating Plans. National
Standard 8 of the MSFCMA states:
“Conservation and management measures shall, consistent with the
conservation requirements of this Act (including the prevention of
overfishing and rebuilding of overfished stocks), take into account the
importance of fishery resources to fishing communities in order to (A)
provide for the sustained participation of such communities, and (B) to the
extent practicable, minimize adverse economic impacts on such
communities”.
Economic data for selected U.S. coastal communities will be collected for each of the following
groups of operations: (1) locally operated businesses; (2) resident households; and (3) visitors.
Data collected from each of these groups will focus on determining the impact of marine resources
on community economies. In general, local businesses will be asked questions concerning their
sources of revenue, location and levels of expenditures, ownership, dependence on the fisheries
and other marine resources, and fishery employment. Households will be asked questions
concerning their sources of income, the location of expenditures made, and their dependence on
fishing and other marine resources. Visitors will be asked questions concerning region of
residence, expenditures made while visiting, and reasons for visiting. The data collection efforts
will be coordinated to reduce the additional burden for those who own multiple businesses.
Participation in these data collections will be voluntary.
The data will be used to construct a regional economic simulation model to analyze the economic
impacts of fishery management alternatives and to investigate the degree of economic dependence
on marine resources in the respective communities. Regional economic impact modeling involves
examining the linkages that a given industry has in the broader regional economy. For example,
expansion of charter boat activity in a coastal community generates additional activity in
businesses who sell tackle, fuel and other goods to charter boats and who, in turn, buy additional
inputs and hire more labor in order to meet increased charter boat demand. If charter boat
operations contract, the multiplier effect works in reverse. This survey seeks to collect data for a
single year, which is sufficient for construction and testing of a regional economic simulation
model.
1

2. Explain how, by whom, how frequently, and for what purpose the information will be
used. If the information collected will be disseminated to the public or used to support
information that will be disseminated to the public, then explain how the collection complies
with all applicable Information Quality Guidelines.
Data will be collected from a random sample of the owners and operators of businesses,
households, and visitors to 8 small fishing engaged communities on the West Coast. This sample
of 8 communities has been selected from the population of 41 small fishing engaged communities
on the West Coast 1 , through the use of a stratified weighted random sampling method. Two
communities have been selected from each of four strata (Washington, Oregon, Northern
California, and Southern California).
Each community’s probability of selection into the study will be weighted by the percentage of the
total value of landings that are accounted for by the ports with populations fewer than 10,000
inhabitants. The probability of each port being selected with in each region is:
Pnr=ln/Lr
(1)
where P is the probability of selection, l is the total landings in each port n within the given region
r, and L is the total regional landings within region r. The total coast wide probability that any
given port was selected for inclusion is:
(2)
Pn=(ln/Lr)/k
where k is the number of strata (in this case 4). The communities will be randomly selected for
inclusion in the study based on these probabilities.
Data collection will involve in-person interviews and/or mail questionnaires sent to selected
members of each of the different survey groups. In many cases, individuals may receive the
questionnaire in advance to allow them to prepare their responses but may be interviewed via
telephone or in person to ensure the clarity of their responses. To the extent practicable, the data
collected will be that which the respondents maintain for their own business purposes. Therefore,
the collection burden will consist principally of transcribing data from their internal records to the
survey instrument and participating in personal interviews. In addition, current data reporting
requirements will be evaluated to determine if they can be modified to provide improved economic
data at a lower cost to the Agency and with reduced burden on potential respondents.
As explained in the preceding paragraphs, the information gathered has utility. NOAA Fisheries
will retain control over the information and safeguard it from improper access, modification, and
destruction, consistent with NOAA standards for confidentiality, privacy, and electronic
information. See response #10 of this Supporting Statement for more information on
confidentiality and privacy. The information collection is designed to yield data that meet all
applicable information quality guidelines. Prior to dissemination, the information will be subjected
to quality control measures and a pre-dissemination review pursuant to Section 515 of Public Law
106-554.

1

Small communities are defined as having a population of less than 10,000 in 2006. Fishing engaged communities are
defined as having a port which received commercial fish landings during 2006. Table 1 of section B1 lists all fishing
engaged communities on the West Coast (both small and not small).

2

3. Describe whether, and to what extent, the collection of information involves the use of
automated, electronic, mechanical, or other technological techniques or other forms of
information technology.
Survey questionnaires for businesses and households will be available in both paper and electronic
forms. The electronic forms will be available for download online and will be available in both a
fillable PDF and a fillable and savable MS Word format.
4. Describe efforts to identify duplication.
This program represents the only known effort to collect regional economic and visitor use data
from coastal communities on the West Coast. Additionally, state and other federal agencies will
be notified of this project to insure that no other agency is collecting similar data. No other
process for obtaining statistically valid descriptions of community economic and visitor use data of
coastal communities exists. No other previous research initiative has attempted to gather this level
of community economic data. This project fills a critical void for NOAA Fisheries and its mandate
to fulfill the requirements of National Standard 8. Data collected in this study will be combined
with other publicly available data. No data will be collected that can be obtained from other
publicly available sources.
5. If the collection of information involves small businesses or other small entities, describe
the methods used to minimize burden.
The support and backing of the local city government will be a prerequisite to conducting this data
collection in a specific coastal city. City Council and Chamber of Commerce officials have been
consulted and their suggestions have been incorporated into the survey instrument as it was
developed.
6. Describe the consequences to the Federal program or policy activities if the collection is
not conducted or is conducted less frequently.
Availability of this data would substantially enhance the amount and quality of information
available to fishery managers, fishery participants and the public. If this data is not collected, the
ability of managers to fulfill the requirements of National Standard 8 of the MSFCMA with respect
to the impacts of management actions on coastal communities would be greatly diminished and
quite possibly eliminated.
7. Explain any special circumstances that require the collection to be conducted in a manner
inconsistent with OMB guidelines.
This collection is consistent with the guidelines.

3

8. Provide a copy of the PRA Federal Register Notice that solicited public comments on the
information collection prior to this submission. Summarize the public comments received in
response to that notice and describe the actions taken by the agency in response to those
comments. Describe the efforts to consult with persons outside the agency to obtain their
views on the availability of data, frequency of collection, the clarity of instructions and
recordkeeping, disclosure, or reporting format (if any), and on the data elements to be
recorded, disclosed, or reported.
A Federal Register Notice published on March 21, 2007 (72 FR 13250-13251) solicited public
comment on this proposed survey.
One public comment was received. The comment stated that data should be collected from a wide
range of communities and that data should be as recent as possible.
Response: The data will be collected in 2008 and will be for records kept in 2007. Eight small to
medium sized communities along the West Coast were chosen to be surveyed in this study.
Budget constraints preclude surveying additional communities at this time. The eight communities
chosen do represent a broad range of small to medium sized communities along the West Coast.
9. Explain any decisions to provide payments or gifts to respondents, other than
remuneration of contractors or grantees.
Visitors to these communities are potentially going to be intercepted while they are on vacation or
while visiting an attraction. It is reasonable to assume that they will be reluctant to take time, even
15 minutes, out of their day to fill out a survey. To encourage responses, all people intercepted
will be asked the 4 questions on page one of the visitor survey. These questions are expected to
take less than a minute to respond to. Then, if the person is there from out of town for the purpose
of recreation/vacation, they will be asked to complete a short, 3-page, 15 minute questionnaire
about their visit. In return, they will be offered a NOAA Fisheries tee shirt. The tee shirt will be
designed to be attractive and unique to provide a strong incentive to the respondents to take 15
minutes out of their visit to complete the survey. It is estimated that the shirts will cost between $4
and $5 dollars to produce. This value is consistent with other token gifts that have been offered to
survey respondents.
10. Describe any assurance of confidentiality provided to respondents and the basis for
assurance in statute, regulation, or agency policy.
Personally identifiable data (business contact information) will be collected only on the businesses
survey. No personally identifiable date will be collected on the household survey or the visitor
survey. For the business survey, data that are deemed financial in nature will be held confidential
under the provisions of Exemption 4 of the Freedom of Information Act.
11. Provide additional justification for any questions of a sensitive nature, such as sexual
behavior and attitudes, religious beliefs, and other matters that are commonly considered
private.
No sensitive questions of this nature will be asked.
4

12. Provide an estimate in hours of the burden of the collection of information.
Estimated Number of Respondents: A total of 8 communities will be surveyed for a total of 1,378
household respondents, 864 business respondents, 1,813 visitors who complete only the initial 4item questionnaire and 1,088 visitor respondents (of the 1,813) who complete the remainder of the
questionnaire, after completing the first four questions. A total of 5,143 survey responses will be
received from 4, 055 survey respondents.
Estimated Time Per Response: 30 minutes per survey of households, 45 minutes per survey of
businesses, and 20 minutes per survey of individual recreational visitors (5 minutes for initial 4
questions and 15 minutes for follow-up questionnaire). Each respondent will only be surveyed
once.
Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours: 1,760 (1,378 x 30 minutes) + (864 x 45 minutes) + (1,813
x 5 minutes) + (1,088 x 15 minutes).
13. Provide an estimate of the total annual cost burden to the respondents or record-keepers
resulting from the collection (excluding the value of the burden hours in #12 above).
There are no expected costs to respondents to complete the postage-paid survey.
14. Provide estimates of annualized cost to the Federal government.
The response to this question covers the actual costs the agency will incur as a result of
implementing the information collection. The estimate covers the entire life cycle of the collection
and include costs, if applicable, for:
• Employee labor and materials for developing, printing, storing forms
• Employee labor and materials for developing computer systems, screens, or reports to
support the collection
• Employee travel costs
• Cost of contractor services or other reimbursements to individuals or organizations
assisting in the collection of information
• Employee labor and materials for collecting the information
• Employee labor and materials for analyzing, evaluating, summarizing, and/or reporting on
the collected information
This research initiative is funded as a part of the NMFS economic data collection efforts. The total
amount allocated to this project is $120,000, or an annualized cost of $40,000. These monies have
already been requested and authorized.
15. Explain the reasons for any program changes or adjustments reported in Items 13 or 14
of the OMB 83-I.
This is a new collection.

5

16. For collections whose results will be published, outline the plans for tabulation and
publication.
Data from this survey will be used to estimate the economic dependence of selected communities
on marine resources. The following data will be reported:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.

Total revenue of businesses aggregated by 2-digit NAICS code
Average revenue collected by businesses aggregated by 2-digit NAICS code
Total expenditures by category for businesses aggregated by 2-digit NAICS code
Average expenditures by category for businesses aggregated by 2-digit NAICS code
Average proportion of expenditures by category that were purchased out of the home city
and proportion that were purchased out of home city.
Household use of marine resources
Location of household expenditures
Visitor utilization of marine resources
Visitor expenditure profiles

If there are enough observations (more than 3) for individual NAICS codes in an individual county
and we get an adequate response rate, the data may be used to estimate the economic contributions
of specific fishery related sectors in individual counties. However, data will never be reported
where there are less than three observations or in other potential cases where individual
respondents could be personally identifiable. In these cases, data will be aggregated at the industry
code level and at a geographic level to protect respondent anonymity.
17. If seeking approval to not display the expiration date for OMB approval of the
information collection, explain the reasons why display would be inappropriate.
Not applicable.
18. Explain each exception to the certification statement identified in Item 19 of the
OMB 83-I.
There are no exceptions.

6