Abstract

The National Marine Fisheries Services (NMFS) contracted with MRAG Americas to conduct voluntary socioeconomic surveys of shrimp vessel owners. A pilot survey project was run in Texas (2002), followed by two full scale surveys in the Gulf of Mexico (2004) and the South Atlantic (2005). The goal was to collect data to use in the assessment of future proposed management changes in the Southeast commercial shrimp fishery. This was the first effort to collect detailed socioeconomic information for all the coastal states from Texas to North Carolina. The survey was conducted in two phases: an outreach phase where vessel owners were informed about the need for the survey; and the surveying phase where field interviewers contacted vessel owners and conducted one-on-one interviews. NMFS is currently analyzing the survey data. In the South Atlantic survey, of the 1,236 vessel owners contacted, 41% refused to complete the survey. Reasons for refusal included: fear that information would be used against them, no perceived benefits from participating, no time availability, fear of change, and lack of support from association and community leaders. MRAG believes future surveys would have higher success if: 1) Stakeholders are informed during the project cycle to ensure transparency on the stated goals of the survey effort; 2) The survey is conducted over a short period of time and highly advertised at stakeholder meetings and with local media services, such as newspapers, radio, and television; and 3) Stakeholders should find it easy to understand and complete the survey

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