Telephone / Mail / E-Mail Surveys

Track B

Contact 1: Cover letter for 1^st survey mailing

Date

Name

Street_Address

City, State

Zipcode

Dear First_name,

Thanks for speaking with us on the phone. We really appreciate your willingness to participate in the North Atlantic Recreational Fishing Survey (NARFS), which we’ve enclosed in this envelope. Once you fill it out, simply place it in pre-paid reply envelope and drop it in the mail.

The NARFS is sponsored by NOAA Fisheries and the results will be used to understand how anglers like you will be affected by changes in fishing regulations. We hope you take the time to participate because the information we collect from the NARFS will be directly incorporated into the policymaking process.

Your name was randomly chosen from a list of people who were licensed for recreational saltwater fishing during 2018 in Maine, New Hampshire, or Massachusetts. As part of the small group of anglers selected to participate, your response is critical to the success of the survey.

You can be assured of complete confidentiality. The data we collect will only be published in summarized form so that no individual response can be identified.

As a way of thanking you for taking a few minutes to share your experiences and opinions about recreational fishing, we’ve enclosed a $2 token of our appreciation.

I hope you enjoy completing the survey and look forward to your response.

S incerely,

Andrew Carr-Harris

Project Director

NOAA Fisheries - Northeast Fisheries Science Center

P.S. If you have any questions, please call me at 508-495-4718 or email Andrew.Carr-Harris@noaa.gov

Track B

Contact 2: Reminder letter

Date

Name

Street_Address

City, State

Zipcode

Dear First_name,

About a week ago, we mailed you the North Atlantic Recreational Fishing Survey (NARFS). To the best of our knowledge, it has not yet been returned.

It’s important that we learn about the fishing preferences of many different types of anglers for the results of our study to be accurate. You are part of a small group of licensed anglers selected for this study. Your answers will help us:

• learn about the preferences of different types of anglers,

• better understand how anglers are affected by changes in regulations, and

• more accurately measure participation.

Please make your voice heard by participating in this important research effort. The information we collect will be directly incorporated into the policymaking process.

We hope you will fill out and return the NARFS soon.

Thank you very much for your help!

S incerely,

Andrew Carr-Harris

Project Director

NOAA Fisheries - Northeast Fisheries Science Center

P.S. If you have any questions, please call me at 508-495-4718 or email Andrew.Carr-Harris@noaa.gov

Track B

Contact 3: Reminder email

Dear First_name,

During the past few weeks, we’ve contacted you a few times asking for your participation in the North Atlantic Recreational Fishing Survey (NARFS). As of today, we have not heard from you.

We’re following up the letter we sent you with this email because we hope the electronic links will make it easier for you to respond online.

We also want to stress the importance that your response has for helping to get accurate results. There are no right or wrong answers and even if you've only gone recreational fishing one time, it’s important that we hear from you. The information we collect will be directly incorporated into the policymaking process, and it is only by hearing from nearly everyone in our sample that we can be sure the results truly represent the experiences and opinions of all anglers in the study region.

To access the survey, click on the following link:

www.fishingsurvey.com/fish47850

If you are having trouble accessing the link go to www.fishingsurvey.com and enter the survey identification number below:

47850

Be assured that your responses will be kept confidential and will be combined with others so that no individual can be identified.

M any Thanks,

Andrew Carr-Harris

Project Director

NOAA Fisheries - Northeast Fisheries Science Center

P.S. If you have any questions, please call me at 508-495-4718 or email Andrew.Carr-Harris@noaa.gov

Track B

Contact 4: Reminder letter

Date

Name

Street_Address

City, State

Zipcode

Dear First_name,

During the past month or so, we’ve contacted you several times asking for your participation in the North Atlantic Recreational Fishing Survey (NARFS).

Our study is drawing to a close, and this is the last contact that will be made with the randomly selected sample of anglers who were licensed for recreational saltwater fishing during 2018 in Maine, New Hampshire, or Massachusetts. We’re sending this final contact because of our concern that people who have not responded to the survey may have different fishing experiences and preferences than those who have responded. For our results to be accurate, we need to hear from you regardless of how often you go recreational fishing.

Please fill out the paper version of the NARFS we sent out earlier and return it in the pre-paid reply envelope. If you misplaced the paper version or would rather participate online, you can go to www.fishingsurvey.com and enter the following survey identification number:

47850

We appreciate your willingness to consider our request as we conclude this important research effort.

Sincerely,

A
ndrew Carr-Harris

Project Director

NOAA Fisheries - Northeast Fisheries Science Center

P.S. If you have any questions, please call me at 508-495-4718 or email Andrew.Carr-Harris@noaa.gov