West Coast Coastal Pelagic Species Fishery

National Marine Fisheries Service

Southwest Fisheries Science Center

8901 La Jolla Shores Drive

La Jolla, CA 92037

105309601

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We invite you to participate in a cost earnings survey of commercial fishing vessel owners being conducted by the National Marine Fisheries Service, Southwest Fisheries Science Center (SWFSC) with assistance from <<CONTRACTOR>>. We are interested in hearing from the owner of each commercial fishing vessel that during 2014 or 2019: (1) operated with a federal West Coast Coastal Pelagic Species (CPS) limited entry (LE) permit, (2) participated in a West Coast live-bait fishery, or (3) had landings of CPS fish on the West Coast (California, Oregon, and Washington), which accounted for the majority of its landings revenue, but did not operate with a limited entry permit for either West Coast groundfish or highly migratory species. We are seeking two years of data to determine how the economics of the fishery have changed over this period. If you only fished for one of the years, you are still eligible to participate in the survey. Our goal is to support fisheries management decision-making by collecting economic information needed to meet legal and regulatory requirements.

Starting about one week from the mailing of this letter, we will begin attempting to contact you by telephone to arrange a time for your choice of a telephone or an online interview to complete this questionnaire. You will be contacted by <<Contact>> and are welcome to contact her/him with questions at <<Phone and email>>. We will mail you a copy of the survey in about one week so you may familiarize yourself with the requested information prior to the survey interview.

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.