Hawaii Charter Fleet Cost-Earnings Survey 2011

OMB Control # 0648-0369

Expiration Date 02/28/2013

SURVEY INSTRUMENT

Legal size paper – landscape format – booklet

8.5”

7”

7”

OMB Control # 0648-0369

Expiration Date 02/28/2013

Hawaii Charter Fleet Cost-Earnings Survey 2011

Vessel Characteristics
Respondents will be asked the following questions for each vessel in their fleet:
[Loop this entire section for each vessel. Number of loops based on the response to this
question]
1. Do you own multiple charter vessels: yes/no
2. How many boats of the following category do you own?
a. _______guide boats (A guide boat is a for-hire fishing boat that carries 4
persons or less. Operator must have a minimum USCG operator license to
carry 6 or less passengers on near shore and inland waters.)
b. _______ 6 pack charter boats (6 passenger charter boat is an
uninspected for-hire fishing vessel that carries 6 persons or less. The
operator must possess a minimum USCG license to carry 6 or less
passengers in offshore waters.)
c. _______overload charter boats (Overload or multi-passenger
charterboat is a vessel that has a USCG Certificate of Inspection (COI) to
carry a specified number of passengers with a specified navigation
route. This vessel generally charges a fee for the vessel up to a specified
number and may charge an additional fee for each passenger over the
specified amount. The operator must possess a USCG license to carry the
maximum number of passengers as per the COI and also the gross
tonnage of the vessel along with the navigation route. They carry 7+
passengers.)
For each vessel
[use number to index loop – guideboat1 guideboat2 – not vessel names]
1. Is this vessel kept on the water or trailered? Docked/Trailered
2. What city/town is the vessel docked, moored or launched (if trailered) the
majority of the time? __________ (city, state)
3. What percentage of your trips in 2010 originated from this location? ________%
4. What is the overall length of the vessel? _______Feet
5. What is the total horsepower of the vessel? _______hp
6. Are the engines a (select one): 4 stroke gas, 2 stroke gas, diesel?
7. What is the legal passenger capacity of the vessel ________number?
8. What year was this vessel’s hull built? _______ year
9. What hull material was used in this vessel’s hull (choose one)?
Wood/fiberglass/aluminum/steel/other
10. What year did you purchase or acquire this vessel? _______year
11. What was the purchase price of the vessel? $_______
a. Did you purchase this vessel new? Yes/no
12. What is the estimated current market value (used) of the vessel if you were to sell
it today? $_________
a. Include this link in the advance mail out.
b. http://www.nadaguides.com/SectionHome.aspx?l=1&w=24&p=0&f=5601

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13. What is the number of full-time crewmembers during the season (not including
the captain) on the vessel? _________full-time crew
14. What is the number of part-time crewmembers during the season (not including
the captain) on the vessel? _________part-time crew

Trip Characteristics
Each type of trip each vessel takes will be profiled.
[Loop over each vessel]
Try to capture seasonality.
1. Do you offer half day fishing trips on this vessel? Yes/no (if no, skip to Q2)
a. If yes, how many ½ day trips did you take in 2010? _______number of
trips
b. Please break out the number of ½ day trips you took in each of the
following periods.
[must sum to Q1a]
January – March
April – June
July – September
October - December
c. How many ½ day trips did you donate to charity in 2010? _____number of
trips
d. How long is the typical ½ day trip? _______hours
e. On average, how many passengers do you take on ½ day trips?
____number of passengers
f. What percentage of your ½ day trips took place in federal waters?
_____%
2. Do you offer full day fishing trips on this vessel? Yes/no (if no, skip to Q3)
a. If yes, how many full day trips did you take in 2010? _______number of
trips
b. Please break out the number of full day trips you took in each of the
following periods.
[must sum to Q2a]
January – March
April – June
July – September
October - December
c. How many full day trips did you donate to charity in 2010? _____number
of trips
d. How long is the typical full day trip? _______hours
e. On average, how many passengers do you take on full day trips?
____number of passengers
f. What percentage of your full day trips took place in federal waters?
_____%
3. Do you offer overnight fishing trips on this vessel? Yes/no (if no, skip to Q4)
a. If yes, how many overnight trips did you take in 2010? _______number of
trips
b. Please break out the number of overnight trips you took in each of the
following periods.
[must sum to Q3a]

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January – March

Expiration Date 02/28/2013
April – June

July – September

October - December

c. How many overnight trips did you donate to charity in 2010?
_____number of trips
d. How long is the typical overnight trip? _______hours
e. On average, how many passengers do you take on overnight trips?
____number of passengers
f. What percentage of your overnight trips took place in federal waters?
_____%
4. Do you offer any other fishing trip lengths on this vessel? Yes/no
(if no, skip to Q5)
a. If yes, how long is this type of trip? _______hours
b. What do you call this type of trip? _____________
c. How many of this type of trip did you take in 2010? _______number of
trips
d. Please break out the number of this type of trip you took in each of the
following periods.
[must sum to Q4c]
January – March
April – June
July – September
October - December

5.

6.

7.

8.

e. How many of this type of trip did you donate to charity in 2010?
_____number of trips
f. On average, how many passengers do you take on this type of trip?
____number of passengers
g. What percentage of these trips took place in federal waters? _____%
[Probe on this. Repeat as necessary based on the number of different trips
they offer]
Do you ever take trips without patrons for the purpose of catching bait for your
charter operation? Yes/no
a. How many trips did you take in 2010 exclusively to catch bait? _______
b. Typically how long are your bait trips? ______hours
Do you ever take trips without patrons for the purpose of scouting locations and
conditions? Yes/no
a. How many trips did you take in 2010 exclusively to scout? _______
b. Typically how long are your scouting trips? ______hours
Do you charter the boat for non-fishing trips like sightseeing, whale watching or
bird watching? Yes/no
a. If no, skip to Total annual expenditure section
b. If yes, how many non-fishing trips do you take in 2010? _______
How much did you earn from charter fees on a typical trip in 2010?
[for charter boat this is for whole boat – for head boats this is per person]
Category

Charter fees

Total Expenditures
Full day
Overnight
$___
$___

½ day
$___

[end of looping]

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Total annual revenue
*This information will be kept strictly confidential and all results will be presented in
summary with no personal information revealed*
These questions will be asked for the business as a whole including ALL vessels.
1. What was your total annual revenue (gross) from the following items in 2010?
a. Income from charter fees $________
b. Income from tips and fish cleaning $_________
[may have to estimate if tips were provided to captains and/or crew]
c. Income from the sale of food and drink $________
d. Income from souvenirs $________
e. Income from the sale of fish $________
f. Income from commercial fishing $________
g. Income from other charter activities like bird watching trips, whale
watching trips, sunset cruises, etc. $________
h. Other income $________ List:________________________
[use of the boat only]
Debt and Debt Service
1. Was there a loan outstanding on any of your vessels during any part of 2010?
a. If no, skip to short term operating loans question (question #2).
b. If yes
iii. What was the monthly payment (principle and interest) during
2010? $_________
[sum with other annual expense categories times 12]
iv. What is the outstanding balance on this loan at the end of 2010?
$______
v. What was the total amount of your original loan? $________
vi. What is the term of your current loan? ______years
vii. What is interest rate on this loan? ______%
viii. Was your home used to secure this loan? Yes/no
1. What percentage of the value was secured with your home?
_____%
2. In 2010, did you have any outstanding short term operating loans?
a. If no, skip to other loans (question #3).
b. If yes
i. What was the monthly payment (principle and interest) during
2010? $_________
[sum with other expense categories times 12]
ii. What is the outstanding balance on this loan at the end of 2010?
iii. What was the total amount of your original loan? $________
iv. What is the term of your current loan? ______years
v. What is interest rate on this loan? ______%
vi. Was your vessel(s) used to secure this loan? Yes/no
vii. Was your home used to secure this loan? Yes/no

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2. What percentage of the value was secured with your home?
_____%
3. In 2010, did you have an outstanding loan on a company owned vehicle? Yes/no
a. If no, skip to building loan (question #4).
b. What was the monthly payment (principle and interest) during 2010?
$_________
[sum with other expense categories times 12]
4. In 2010, did you have an outstanding loan on any company owned buildings
and/or land? Yes/no
a. If no, skip to next section.
b. What was the monthly payment (principle and interest) during 2010?
$_________
[sum with other expense categories times 12]
Total Annual Costs
1. What were your total annual expenditures on the following items in 2010?
Category
Total Expenditure
Captain’s share
Crew/mate share
Office staff
Fuel and Oil
Bait
Ice
Food and drink
State fishing permits (CML)
Federal permits (USCG registration, Angler Registry etc.)
Fishing gear and tackle
Other supplies (cleaning, etc.)
Electronics purchased in 2010(radio, nav, fish finder, etc.)
Engine repair and boat maintenance by boatyard
Engine repair and boat maintenance by staff
Fishing association dues
Professional certifications
Accounting/book keeping
Bank fees
Legal fees
Advertising and promotion
Booking agent fees
Dock/slip fees
Insurance payment
Telephone [include internet]
Electric and other utilities
Weather service subscriptions
Company vehicle lease
Company vehicle maintenance

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Building lease
Building maintenance
Lodging related to providing trips
Meals related to providing trips
Trailer maintenance
Tow vehicle gas
Tow vehicle maintenance
Boat launching and parking
Other ____________________________
2. Calculate net revenue (profit).
a. $XXX is your net revenue calculated from the information provided.
[sum all revenues, all costs, and all monthly loan payments (multiplied by
12)]
b. Does this value seem accurate? Yes/no
i. If yes, skip to respondent characteristics.
ii. If no, is it too high or too low?
1. If too high, what expenses have you left out or what
revenues have you overestimated? Amend above responses
2. If too low, what revenue have you left out or what costs
have you overestimated? Amend above responses
c. If net revenues are negative:
i. These calculations show that you lost money last in 2010.
ii. Did you operate at a loss in 2010? Yes/no
1. If no, we need to figure out what is going on.
a. Either revenues are too low
b. Or costs are too high.
c. Amend above responses
2. If yes, other than in 2010, do you typically earn a profit
taking people fishing? Yes/no
a. If no, why do you take people out fishing?
__________________________________________
__________________________________________
__________________________________________
__________________
b. If yes, what changed in 2010?
__________________________________________
__________________________________________
__________________________________________
_________________
Respondent Characteristics
All respondents will be asked these questions.
1. Are you an (check one): Owner/captain; owner/non-captain; paid captain(private);
paid captain (corporate).

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a. If owner/captain or owner/non-captain ask: Please indicate your business
structure. Multiple choice, select one: sole proprietorship, partnership,
corporation, limited liability company, other.
2. In what year were you born? _____year
3. How many years have you been a charter owner/captain? _____years
4. What percentage of your personal annual gross income in 2010 was from charter
fishing activities? ________%

Thank you for completing this survey

Do you have any suggestions for how Hawaii’s fisheries should be
managed or topics you feel need further study?

Paperwork Reduction Act Statement. The information you provide will remain strictly confidential as required by section
402(b) of the Magnuson-Stevens and NOAA Administrative Order 216-100, Confidentiality of Fisheries Statistics, and will
not be released for public use except in aggregate statistical form without identification as to its source. We will combine
your responses with information provided by other participants, and report it in summary form so that responses for any
individual vessel can not be identified. Public reporting burden for this information collection, including time for gathering
data needed and completing the survey, is estimated to average 45 minutes per respondent. Please provide comments
regarding this burden estimate or any other aspect of this collection of information, including suggestions for reducing this
burden, to Justin Hospital, NOAA Fisheries, 1601 Kapiolani Blvd, suite 1000., Honolulu, HI 96814, 808-944-2188,
[email protected]. Notwithstanding any other provision of the law, no person is required to respond to, nor shall
any person be subject to a penalty for failure to comply with, a collection of information subject to the requirements of the
Paperwork Reduction Act, unless that collection of information displays a currently valid OMB Control Number.

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INTRODUCTORY LETTER

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<< NOAA Letterhead>>
<< Date >>
<< Name >>
<< Address >>
Dear << Name >>,
Aloha << First Name >>, I am writing to ask your help in understanding charter fishing
in Hawaii. This study, conducted by NOAA Fisheries, has two primary objectives: most
importantly, we wish to collect information on fishing costs, fishing activity and assess
the financial performance of the Hawaii charter fleet. Secondly, we would like to hear
your suggestions for future management. This information will provide feedback to
managing agencies of the important economic contributions your charter fishing activities
provides to the State and will help establish a baseline for assessing the economic impacts
of future management plans, management alternatives, and actions.
As a licensed Hawaii charter captain, we are hoping that you can help in this study. Your
contact information was obtained from the State of Hawaii Division of Aquatic
Resources (DAR) through a cooperative agreement between DAR and NOAA Fisheries.
Your answers will never be associated with your mailing address and will be kept
confidential. While your response is voluntary, we hope that you can help us in this
research. If you have any questions or concerns pertaining to this survey, please call
Justin Hospital, by telephone at 808-944-2188 or by email at [email protected].
You can expect to receive a survey questionnaire in the mail within a week.

Your kokua is greatly appreciated.
Mahalo,

< Signature >
Justin Hospital
Economist, National Marine Fisheries Service
Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center
1601 Kapiolani Blvd, suite 1000
Honolulu, HI 96814
(808) 944-2188
[email protected]

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COVER LETTER GIVEN TO RESPONDENT
ACCOMPANYING FIRST MAILING OF
SURVEY INSTRUMENT
(+one week from intro letter)

11

<< NOAA Fisheries Letterhead >>
<< Date >>
<< Name >>
<< Address >>
Dear << Name >>,
Aloha << First Name >>, I am writing to ask your help in understanding charter fishing
in Hawaii. This study, conducted by NOAA Fisheries, has two primary objectives: most
importantly, we wish to collect information on fishing costs, fishing activity and assess
the financial performance of the Hawaii charter fleet. Secondly, we would like to hear
your suggestions for future management. This information will provide feedback to
managing agencies of the important economic contributions your charter fishing activities
provides to the State and will help establish a baseline for assessing the economic impacts
of future management plans, management alternatives, and actions
As a licensed Hawaii charter captain, we are hoping that you can help in this study. Your
contact information was obtained from the State of Hawaii Division of Aquatic
Resources through a cooperative agreement between DAR and NOAA Fisheries. Your
answers will never be associated with your mailing address and will be kept confidential.
While your response is voluntary, we hope that you can help us in this research. If you
have any questions or concerns pertaining to this survey, please call Justin Hospital, by
telephone at 808-944-2188 or by email at [email protected].
By taking a few minutes to share your thoughts, opinions, and fishing details you will be
helping us out a great deal. I hope you enjoy completing the questionnaire and I look
forward to receiving your response.

Your kokua is greatly appreciated.
Many Thanks,
< Signature >
Justin Hospital
Economist, National Marine Fisheries Service
Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center
1601 Kapiolani Blvd, suite 1000
Honolulu, HI 96814
(808) 944-2188 [email protected]

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REMINDER / THANK YOU POSTCARD
(+one week from first mailing)

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< Date >
Last week a questionnaire was mailed to you to help in a study of Hawaii charter
fishing because you are currently an active charter captain.
If you have already completed and returned the questionnaire, please accept my
sincere thanks. If not, please take a moment to participate and let your voice be heard.
I am especially grateful for your help with this important study.
If you did not receive a questionnaire, or if it was misplaced, please call Justin
Hospital at 808-944-2188 or email at [email protected], and I will get another
one in the mail for you today.
<< Signature >>
Justin Hospital, Economist – NOAA Fisheries

If you have any questions or concerns pertaining to the study or wish to request
another copy of the survey form, please contact Justin Hospital, at 808-944-2188, or
email: [email protected]

< NOAA Fisheries Letterhead >
< Return Address >

< Name >
< Address >

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SECOND MAILING
(+two weeks from first mailing)

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<< NOAA Fisheries Letterhead >>
<< Date >>
<< Name >>
<< Address >>
Dear << Name >>,
Aloha << First Name >>, a few weeks ago we sent you a questionnaire about charter
fishing in Hawaii. To the best of my knowledge, it has not yet been returned.
I am writing to ask your help in understanding charter fishing in Hawaii. Your thoughts,
opinions, and details of fishing activity are important for getting accurate results. We
want to best represent charter fishermen in Hawaii and we can only do that by hearing
from as many captains as possible. As a licensed Hawaii charter captain, we are hoping
that you can help in this study.
As a reminder, this study conducted by NOAA Fisheries, has two primary objectives:
most importantly, we wish to collect information on fishing costs, fishing activity and
assess the financial performance of the Hawaii charter fleet. Secondly, we would like to
hear your suggestions for future management.
Your contact information was obtained from the State of Hawaii Division of Aquatic
Resources through a cooperative agreement between DAR and NOAA Fisheries. Your
answers will never be associated with your mailing address and will be kept confidential.
While your response is voluntary, we hope that you can help us in this research. If you
have any questions or concerns pertaining to this survey, please call Justin Hospital, by
telephone at 808-944-2188 or by email at [email protected].

Your kokua is greatly appreciated.
Many Thanks,
< Signature >
Justin Hospital
Economist, National Marine Fisheries Service
Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center
1601 Kapiolani Blvd, suite 1000
Honolulu, HI 96814
(808) 944-2188 [email protected]

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THIRD MAILING
(+four weeks from first mailing)
using Fed Ex – 2day mail

17

<< NOAA Fisheries Letterhead >>
<< Date >>
<< Name >>
<< Address >>
Dear << Name >>,
Aloha << First Name >>, in early April we sent you a questionnaire about charter fishing
in Hawaii, and a follow up was sent in early May. To the best of my knowledge, it has
not yet been returned. We wanted to make one last effort to give you an opportunity to
participate in this study. If you would prefer that field staff contact you to complete the
survey in person or over the phone – or to opt out of participating - please complete the
enclosed postcard with your contact information.
Your thoughts, opinions, and details of fishing activity are important for getting accurate
results. We want to best represent charter captains in Hawaii and we can only do that by
hearing from as many fishermen as possible. As a licensed Hawaii charter captain, we are
hoping that you can help in this study.
As a reminder, this study conducted by NOAA Fisheries, has two primary objectives:
most importantly, we wish to collect information on fishing costs, fishing activity and
assess the financial performance of the Hawaii charter fleet. Secondly, we would like to
hear your suggestions for future management.
Your contact information was obtained from the State of Hawaii Division of Aquatic
Resources through a cooperative agreement between DAR and NOAA Fisheries. Your
answers will never be associated with your mailing address and will be kept confidential.
While your response is voluntary, we hope that you can help us in this research. If you
have any questions or concerns pertaining to this survey, please call Justin Hospital, by
telephone at 808-944-2188 or by email at [email protected].
Your kokua is greatly appreciated.
Many Thanks,
< Signature >
Justin Hospital
Economist, National Marine Fisheries Service
Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center
1601 Kapiolani Blvd, suite 1000
Honolulu, HI 96814
(808) 944-2188 [email protected]

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IN-PERSON/PHONE SURVEY
OPTION POSTCARD
INCLUDED IN THIRD CONTACT

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Aloha, < First Name >, we have not yet received your completed survey but want to
ensure you have the opportunity to participate and let your voice be heard. If you
would prefer our field staff to contact you to arrange for an interview please provide
contact information below. Your contact information will be kept confidential

I would prefer to conduct the survey over the phone or in-person with field
interview staff
AM
Weekday
_____________________
(phone number)

_______________
(ideal contact time)

PM

Weekend

I do not wish to participate in the survey

Analyzed data will be aggregated by various characteristics and will not reveal
individual vessel information. All your answers will be held in strict confidentiality.
If you have any questions or concerns pertaining to the study please contact
Justin Hospital, at 808-944-2188, or by email at: [email protected]

Survey ID# XXX

< NOAA Fisheries>
< Address >

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