Vessel survey

Advance Letter for Fishing Vessel Survey

Phish Erman

Address
City, state, zip
Dear Mr. Erman:
The Alaska Fisheries Science Center (AFSC), of NOAA Fisheries (National Marine Fisheries
Service), is conducting a voluntary survey to learn more about commercial fishing activity in
Southeast Alaska (SE Alaska). With your help, we can identify the important role fishing activity
plays in the SE Alaska economy. This will provide better information to fishery management
decision makers.
Your name was selected at random from commercial fishermen who landed fish at SE Alaska
ports during 2009. Very few fishermen were chosen for the study, so your help is critical to its
success. In the next few days, you will receive a questionnaire in the mail from AFSC. This
survey will have an optional response procedure for filling out the questionnaire using a form
hosted on an internet website. A unique password will be provided on the mailed
questionnaire which will allow you to gain access to the form, if desired.
The survey asks about employment and earnings of crew and skipper(s) working on your vessel.
It also asks about the share of spending to own and operate the vessel that is made in SE Alaska
communities. We recognize the sensitivity of the information to be collected, and want to
assure you it will be handled confidentially. All individual surveys will be held by the
researchers at AFSC and destroyed upon completion of the study.
You are one of a small number of fishermen who are selected to help. To keep costs low and
make sure that the information obtained correctly represents SE Alaska fishing activity, we
need to hear from you.
Thank you in advance for your help.
Sincerely,