Survey of river herring observations

Phone script:

Hello. May I please speak with [INSERT RESPONDENT’S NAME]?

My name is [INTERVIEWER’S FIRST NAME]. I’m calling on behalf of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration—often referred to as NOAA. We are conducting a voluntary survey of current and past participants of the river herring fishery to gather information about observations that fishermen made while participating in the fishery. You are receiving this call because we have identified you as having participated in the commercial or recreational harvest of river herring. Is this correct?

[If yes, then] If you are willing, we would like to set up a time to interview you about observations that you may have made while participating in the river herring fishery. The information that we gather from these interviews will be used by NOAA Fisheries to help inform future management of these species. The interview would last about 15 minutes. We would conduct the interview by phone at a time that is most convenient for you, and there is no obligation to participate in the survey or answer all of the questions if you do choose to participate. Is this something you would be interested in doing?

Interview script

Thank you for agreeing to speak with me today about your knowledge of river herring. Before we begin I would like to give you some more background on why I am doing these interviews, what the interview will be like, and how your responses will be used. I just want to be sure that you know what you’re getting yourself into before you agree to help me with this project.

This project is being carried out by NOAA Fisheries. Given that commercial and recreational fishermen have a unique and important understanding of the long term status of the species for which they are fishing, NMFS is contacting river herring fishermen to inquire about their observations of changes in run-timing, abundance, distribution, individual size and species composition during the period in which they engaged in the fishery. The information that we gather from these interviews will be used to help inform future management of these species.

You were sought out to participate in this project because you, as a harvester, know more about your local run than anyone else. We want to use this project to capture your detailed, local knowledge and improve our understanding of these species based on your experiences. I will also type up this conversation and I may use some of your quotes in written educational and outreach materials as well.

You can end your participation at any point in time. The survey results are intended for internal use by NMFS to better understand biological trends within river herring populations, and the survey information will be kept separate from the respondents name and contact information. However, there are no assurances of confidentiality. If you decide that you don’t want something that you just said to be shared with others, let me know and I will delete that part of the interview. It would be best if you would let me know before I leave today which parts, if any, you would like me to delete. Everything else that you say will be shared with my colleagues at NOAA who are working on managing these species and may also be used in outreach materials. Is this okay with you?¹

When we begin the interview, you can always say “I don’t know” or “I don’t want to answer that”. Feel free to go off on tangents and you can ask me questions as well.

Do you have any questions about any of that before we continue with the interview?

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