Key Informant interviews - fishers

Manell-Geus Habitat Focus Area

KEY INFORMANT INTERVIEW GUIDE

Fishers

Name: Day:

Village: Time:

Hafa adai! Thank you for agreeing to do this interview. My name is ___________. I am part of a team that is collecting data on behalf of the National Marine Fisheries Service for the Habitat Blueprint. You have been selected to participate in this interview due to your experience as a fisher in Merizo. The purpose of the interview today is to learn more about your experiences with fishing, coral reefs and the environment in Merizo. This interview will last for about one hour and a half. The information you provide will help us understand fishing practices in Merizo, changes in fishing practices and reef condition over time, and the impact of fishing regulations on the community so that .

Your participation is voluntary. You may be assured of complete anonymmity. To protect your information, nothing you tell me will be personally attributed to you in any written documents that result from this session. Any specific location information you provide will be generalized to protect your fishing sites. At any time during our conversation, please feel free to let me know if you have any questions or if you would rather not answer any specific question. You can also stop the interview at any time for any reason. Please remember that we want to know what you think and feel and that there are no right or wrong answers.

Public reporting burden for this collection of information is estimated to average 90 minutes for completing the survey, including the time for reviewing instructions, searching existing data sources, gathering and maintaining the data needed, and completing and reviewing the collection of information. Send comments regarding this burden estimate or any other suggestions for reducing this burden to Valerie Brown, NFMS (Valerie.brown@noaa.gov).

Notwithstanding any other provisions of the law, no person is required to respond to, nor shall any person be subjected to a penalty for failure to comply with, a collection of information subject to the requirements of the Paperwork Reduction Act, unless that collection of information displays a currently valid OMB Control Number.

Is it OK if I record this interview today? We are recording the session because we don’t want to miss any of your comments. The recording and all raw data will be destroyed at the end of this project.

Do you have any questions before we begin?

Introductory Questions:

1. How long have you been fishing in Merizo?

Describe Fishing in Merizo:

2. People fish for a lot of reasons. What are some of the most important reasons that fishers in Merizo fish? (How much keep for themselves? How much is sold? How much is shared? Can you make a living by fishing? Could fishers in the past?

3. What types of fishing methods are used in Merizo? Has this changed over your time as a fisher?

Changes Over Time:

4. How have the reefs in Merizo changed over time? (prompt about algal bloom, reef degradation)

5. How have the fish catches changed during your time as a fisher? In your opinion, what are the factors that have led to this change?

Recommendations:

6. What do you think should be done to improve reefs in Merizo? (Who should do it? What should they do? What are the challenges?)

7. What do you think should be done to improve reef fish size and numbers in Merizo?

8. How should researchers share their information with fishers? Do you think that Fishers would like to help collect data?

Reflection:

9. How would you describe the future of fishing in Merizo? (Are the youth learning to fish?)

Thank you for your time!