SW IC Albacore Survey Instrument and Cover Letter

105309901

Cover letter with survey instrument

November 15, 2020

Dear <<Name of potential respondent>>,

To gauge economic impacts of proposed and existing regulations, federal fishery managers must have accurate baseline economic information for the West Coast Albacore Fishery. Without this information, an accurate assessment of the potential economic impacts of fishery conservation and management is not possible, making it difficult for fishery managers to measure the economic impacts of regulatory actions on fishery participants.

We have developed a survey to provide vital economic information about the West Coast Albacore Fishery regarding harvesters’ fishing costs. You have the options of providing the information requested in the attached survey during a phone or video interview or by mail.

It is very important that you understand that this is a voluntary survey. Any information submitted to the Southwest Fisheries Science Center (SWFSC) or its contractor in response to this survey will be considered confidential and will not be disclosed at an individual level except: (1) to the federal contractor administering the survey who is bound to release data only to the SWFSC; (2) to NMFS employees and Pacific Fishery Management Council employees who are responsible for fishery monitoring and who are bound by signed legal agreement not to disclose confidential data; (3) to state employees pursuant to an agreement with the Secretary of Commerce that prevents the disclosure of this information; or (4) when required by court order. The public reporting burden for completing this form is estimated to average one hour per response. No confidential data submitted by any participant will be publicly released in a manner that allows identification of individual proprietary information. Therefore, any publicly released information will be grouped to include information for no fewer than three individuals.

The SWFSC has contracted with <<contractor name>> to conduct the survey. He will call you in the next two weeks to set up a phone or video interview for the survey or to determine if you would rather submit the requested information by mail. Please look for his call or call him at (XXX) XXX-XXXX.

Thank you very much for your participation.

Send comments regarding this survey or burden estimate to:

Dr. Stephen Stohs

NMFS SWFSC

8901 La Jolla Shores Drive

La Jolla, CA 92037-1508

Stephen.Stohs@noaa.gov

858.546-7084

Section 1: Vessel Information

1	Owner/Operator
2	Captain
3	Vessel Name
4	Position of person filling out form
5	Email Address
6	Telephone ( )
7	Mailing Address (Street/City/State/Zip Code)
8	Date of Survey Response (Month/Day/Year)
9	Contract captain used? 2019 □ Yes □ No 2019 % of time: %		2020 □ Yes □ No 2020 % of time: %
10	Year current captain was born		19____
11	Captain: years fishing		yrs
12	Captain: years operating current fishing vessel		yrs
13	Who handles vessel finances □ Captain □ Owner □ Spouse□ Partner □ Accountant Total Annual Cost (book keeping and tax preparation) 9a 2019:_________ 9b 2020:________
14	Vessel Name
15	Vessel ID (USCG or State)
16	Home Port (City/State)
17	Length (feet)
18	Depth (feet)
19	Width (feet)
20	Fuel Capacity (gallons)
21	Total Horsepower of Main Engines
22	Engine Make and Model
23	Year Built
24	Year Purchased
25	Purchase price	$
26	Estimated replacement value of vessel	$
27	Vessel depreciation and amortization (method:__________)	2019 $		2020 $
28	Total Insurance cost: (vessel, liability, and health combined)	2019 $		2020 $
29	Electronics (Check all on vessel): □ INMARSAT □ Cellular phone □ VHF radio □ CB Radio □ SSB Radio □ Video plotter □ Autopilot □ Satellite navigation □ Computer □ Depth sounder □ Radar □ Sonar □ GPS □ Doppler Radar □ Temperature sensor □ Weather fax □ Other:
30	Total Electronics Cost	2019 $		2020 $
31	Refrigeration: □ Brine Spray □ Chiller □ Blast Freeze □ Other
32	Year purchased
33	Purchase price $
34	Maintenance Costs	2019 $		2020 $
35	Icemaker? □ Yes □ No
a)	Year purchased
b)	Purchase price $

Section 2: Annual Costs and Related Information

36	Total crew per trip (exclude captain)	Crew:
37	Fishing shares (percentage or actual cash)	2019 ↓	2020 ↓
a)	Boat /Vessel	____% or $ ______	____% or $ ______
b)	Captain	____% or $ ______	____% or $ ______
c)	2nd Captain	____% or $ ______	____% or $ ______
d)	Engineer	____% or $ ______	____% or $ ______
e)	Crew	____% or $ ______	____% or $ ______
38	Annual mooring or slip / berthing fees	$	$
39	Annual permit renewal fee	$	$
40	Shipping costs	$	$
41 a)	Annual fuel and oil costs ($) If Total:	$	$
41 b)	Annual fuel and oil quantities (gallons) If Total:
41 c)	Fuel cost ($) If Separate:	$	$
41 d)	Fuel quantity (gallons) If Separate:
41 e)	Oil cost ($) If Separate:	$	$
41 f)	Oil quantity (gallons) If Separate:
42	Annual food costs	$	$
43 a)	Total salt purchases cost ($)	$	$
43 b)	Total salt purchases quantity (lbs.)
44 a)	Total bait purchases cost ($)	$	$
44 b)	Total bait purchases quantity (lbs.)
45 a)	Total ice purchases cost ($)	$
45 b)	Total ice purchases quantity (lbs.)		$
46	Total offloading cost	$	$
47	Gear and equipment cost	$	$
48	Engine maintenance costs	$	$
49	Engine replacement costs Year	$	$
50	Annual total vessel repairs and maintenance with haul out fees	$	$
51	Fishing association membership dues (Please circle monthly or annual) monthly / annual	$	$
52	Total license fees (local, state, federal, combined)	$	$
53	Total County or Landing, vessel and berthing fees	$	$
54	Total business travel (car, airplane, train, other____________________)	$	$
55	Total vehicle expenses	$	$
56	Storage expense	trips	trips
57	Office expenses	days	days
58	Total fishing trips per year this vessel (all types of commercial fishing)	days	days
59	Total days per trip on average
60	Total days fished per trip on average

The next group of questions are intended to help capture the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic response on fisheries.

61. How have you changed your fishing activities due to COVID-19?

61. What are the main reasons you made those changes?

61. By how much did your total annual fishing costs change in 2020 due to COVID-19? $_____.00

61. By how much did your total annual fishing revenue change in 2020 due to COVID-19? $_____.00

65 Is there any other information you would like to share with us?

The Southwest Fisheries Science Center (SWFSC) is collecting this economic information to improve its ability to conduct analyses required by the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (MSA) and other applicable law. The SWFSC and the Pacific Fishery Management Council will use this information to monitor, explain and predict changes in the economic performance and impacts of the West Coast Albacore Fishery. Among other things, this will enable fisheries managers and the public to more fully consider the economic effects of proposed and existing regulations for this important fishery.

A Federal agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required to respond to, nor shall a person be subject to a penalty for failure to comply with an information collection subject to the requirements of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 unless the information collection has a currently valid OMB Control Number. The approved OMB Control Number for this information collection is 0648-0773 and its expiration data is XX/XX/20XX. Without this approval, we could not conduct this information collection. Public reporting for this information collection is estimated to be approximately one hour per response, including the time for reviewing instructions, searching existing data sources, gathering and maintaining the data needed, and completing and reviewing the information collection. All responses to this information collection are voluntary Send comments regarding this burden estimate or any other suggestions for reducing this burden to Dr. Stephen Stohs, NMFS SWFSC, 8901 La Jolla Shores Drive, La Jolla, CA 92037-1508, Stephen.Stohs@noaa.gov.

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.