West Coast Coastal Pelagic Species Fishery

National Marine Fisheries Service

Southwest Fisheries Science Center

8901 La Jolla Shores Drive

La Jolla, CA 92037

105309401

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This letter follows one we sent roughly one week ago. We invite you to participate in a cost earnings survey of commercial Coastal Pelagic Species fishing vessel owners being conducted by the National Marine Fisheries Service, Southwest Fisheries Science Center with assistance from <<CONTRACTOR>>. Our goal is to support fisheries management decision-making by collecting economic information needed to meet legal and regulatory requirements.

A copy of the survey questionnaire is enclosed so you can see in advance the questions we will ask. <<CONTRACTOR>> will attempt to contact you by telephone to arrange a time for your choice of a telephone interview or an online interview to complete this questionnaire. If you do not hear from <<Contact>> soon, you are welcome to contact her/him with questions or to arrange a time for your interview at <<Phone and email>>.

Because you and other vessel owners are the only ones who can provide this information, we encourage you to participate in this survey. Your participation is voluntary and you are not required to participate in this survey to maintain any of your federal permits. However, by providing this information, you and vessel owners like you will help us better understand average fleet characteristics as well as the diversity within the fleet. With this information, fisheries managers will be better able to consider the economic effects of proposed and existing regulations.

Thank you for your consideration. We look forward to speaking with you.

Sincerely,

James Hilger

National Marine Fisheries Service

james.hilger@noaa.gov

(858)-546-7140

Confidentiality Statement

We appreciate the confidential nature of the data being collected by this survey. The SWFSC will handle individual survey data as confidential business information and a form of protected personal information and will maintain the confidentiality of the information consistent with legal authorities available to it, including but not limited to the Privacy Act (5 U.S.C. Section 552a) and the Trade Secrets Act (18 U.S.C. Section 1905). The SWFSC will protect individual survey data from public disclosure to the extent permitted by law and it has instituted procedures to provide that protection.