Commercial water operator survey

Commercial water operator survey Survey number______ Date________________

Privacy Act Statement

Authority: The collection of this information is authorized under the Coral Reef Conservation Act (P.L. 106-562).

Purpose: Stakeholder use information, as related to frequency and areas of use, views on area conditions, and perceptions concerning congestion are needed to determine limits of acceptable change (LAC) in Puerto Rico’s Northeastern Marine Corridor (Northeast Reserves and Culebra Island), which can be used to strengthen conservation of the area’s coral reef and related ecosystems.

NOAA Routine Uses: NOAA will use this information to gather information from main stakeholders in the Northeast Marine Corridor of Puerto Rico. Disclosure of this information is permitted under the Privacy Act of 1974 (5 U.S.C. Section 552a) to be shared among NOAA staff for work-related purposes. Disclosure of this information is also subject to all of the published routine uses as identified in the Privacy Act System of Records Notices COMMERCE/NOAA-6, Fishermen’s Statistical Data and COMMERCE/NOAA-11, Contact Information for Members of the Public Requesting or Providing Information Related to NOAA's Mission.

Disclosure: Furnishing this information is voluntary; however, failure to participate in the survey will result in less information to support the conservation and management goals of the Coral Reef Conservation Program.

OMB Control No.: 0648-xxxx

Date of expiration: XX/XX/20XX

Public reporting burden for this collection of information is estimated to average 30 minutes/hours per response, including the time for reviewing instructions, searching existing data sources, gathering and maintaining the data needed, and completing and reviewing the collection of information. Send comments regarding this burden estimate or any other suggestions for reducing this burden to(CHRISTOPHER JEFFREY), NOAA NOS, (1305 East West Highway, Rm #9213, N/SCI-1, Silver Spring, MD 20910 USA).

Everything we discuss will be protected. When we complete our interviews and other work, we will write a report that summarizes everything we have learned.  We will not use people’s names in our reports, or write about anything that is sensitive. 

Notwithstanding any other provisions of the law, no person is required to respond to, nor shall any person be subjected 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. 

Name of operation___________________________

Name of person interviewed___________________

Position of person in operation__________________

Address________________________________

________________________________________

________________________________________

Tel_____________________________________

Email of operation_________________________

Background information

1. What is the principal port of the operation? Please identify the port/marina and city, where applicable. _______________________________

2. Does the operation have a secondary port? YES NO

   1. If YES, what is the secondary port? ___________________

   2. If YES, then how many months/year does the operation use this port? _____________months

   3. If YES, then which areas are targeted when using the secondary port? __________________________

3. How many years has the operation been in existence? _____yrs

4. How many years have you worked with this operation?_____yrs

5. How many years have you worked in this profession?______yrs

6. Which of the following includes your age?

1. Less than 18

2. 18-30

3. 31-40

4. 41-50

5. 51-60

6. More than 60

Trip information

7. Vessel information

Please list the information for each vessel type in the table below to identify if it is a powerboat, yacht, catamaran, or other. If you have more than one vessel, then please list the information for each vessel type under 1, 2, and 3.

Table 1

Vessel type	Length	Capacity	Divers	Snorkelers	Crew	Present value of vessel
1
2
3
Kayak/SUP
Jetski

8. Fixed costs and annual expenses

   1. Boat slip(s)/marina fees: $_______________

   2. Insurance: $________________

   3. Dive equipment (fins, masks, tanks, regulators, compressors, other): $________________

   4. Fishing equipment (rods and reels, fishing line, weights, hooks, spearguns, other): $_____________

9. Trip information

In the following table, please again list the vessel types (powerboat, yacht, catamaran, other) to consider the trips taken by each vessel.

Table 2

Vessel type	Work year round (Y/N)	Trips per day	Average passengers per trip	Average divers per trip	Average snorkelers per trip
1
2
3
Kayaks/SUP
Jetski

10. What are the approximate percentage of trips taken by number of clients/passengers in your operation?

    1. Snorkeling ________%

    2. Diving____________%

    3. Spearfishing ________%

    4. Hook and line fishing________%

    5. Cruising__________%

    6. Kayak/SUP __________%

    7. Jetski_____________%

    8. Water taxi________%

11. Does your operation give a talk before or on the way to a trip?

    1. NO

    2. YES

       1. IF YES, then please describe what the talk entails

_____________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________

12. Please refer to the following map for the zones (areas) used by vessel type to provide percentages of trips taken to each area per year in the table below. Again, please list the vessel types (powerboat, yacht, catamaran, other) for each vessel.

Area 1 – Aguadilla to Rio Grande

Area 2 – Rio Grande to the northeast, north of Fajardo to Culebra

Area 3 – Rio Grande to the east, including all shallow platform/shelf waters east and south of Culebra

Area 4 – south of Fajardo to Maunabo, including Vieques and other points east

Area 5 – Manuabo to the west to Ponce

Area 6 – Ponce to the west to Cabo Rojo

Area 7 – Cabo Rojo to the north to Aguadilla

1

7

6

5

4

3

2

Area 1: _________% Area 2: _________%

Area 3: _________% Area 4: _________%

Area 5: _________% Area 6: _________%

Area : _________%

Table 3

Vessel type	Main activities	1	2	3	4	5	6	7
1
2
3
Kayaks/SUP
Jetski

13. In the accompanying map, please indicate the following:

    1. Use areas including routes taken if more than one site is visited (ex., Icacos to Palomino)

    2. Areas of use by activities offered

    3. Alternate use areas, based on weather, congestion, or resource conditions

    4. Areas of high use, congestion, and conflict

    5. Areas used in the past, historically

14. In the following table, please consider the number of vessels that you encounter in the activity area. In the following table, Specifically, please address the following questions. Again, please list the vessel types (powerboat, yacht, catamaran, other) for each vessel.

1. What is the maximum number of vessels that you can tolerate around your vessel in activity area before you change your location?

2. What is the average/usual number of vessels that participate in recreational activities around your vessel in your activity area?

3. What has been the change in the number of vessels in your activity area since when you first started taking trips, in terms of percentage change?

4. What is the optimal number of vessels in your activity area?

Table 4

Vessel type	Maximum of number of vessels	Average number of vessels	Change in average number of vessels over time (%)	Optimal number of vessels
1
2
3
Kayaks/SUP
Jetski

15. Please rate the following in terms of how each affects your willingness to visit a particular site, where 1 is the least important and 5 is the most important factor, in the table below. Please rank each factor for each type of vessel you operate. Again, please list the vessel types (powerboat, yacht, catamaran, other) for each vessel.

Table 5

Vessel type	Weather	Time to site	Site congestion	Sonic or music pollution	Site resource conditions
1
2
3
Kayaks/SUP
Jetski

16. Please estimate the changes in the following types of users/vessels over the time when you have been operating in the region, where 1 is much less use than in the past, 3 is the same as in the past, and 5 is much more use than in the past.

    1. Recreational fishers 1 2 3 4 5

    2. Commercial fishers 1 2 3 4 5

    3. Recreational divers 1 2 3 4 5

    4. Commercial divers 1 2 3 4 5

    5. Large party boats/cats 1 2 3 4 5

    6. Charter boats (6-pack) 1 2 3 4 5

    7. Private vessels 1 2 3 4 5

    8. Others (____________) 1 2 3 4 5

17. Please rate the following types of users/vessels that may affect your activities, where 1 is the least impact and 5 is the most impact.

    1. Recreational fishers 1 2 3 4 5

    2. Commercial fishers 1 2 3 4 5

    3. Recreational divers 1 2 3 4 5

    4. Commercial divers 1 2 3 4 5

    5. Large party boats/cats 1 2 3 4 5

    6. Charter boats (6-pack) 1 2 3 4 5

    7. Private vessels 1 2 3 4 5

    8. Others (____________) 1 2 3 4 5

18. Please rate the condition of the following coastal and marine resources, where 1 is excellent and 5 is poor.

    1. Fish and fisheries 1 2 3 4 5

    2. Lobster 1 2 3 4 5

    3. Conch 1 2 3 4 5

    4. Coral reefs 1 2 3 4 5

    5. Sea grasses 1 2 3 4 5

    6. Mangroves 1 2 3 4 5

    7. Other rocky bottom 1 2 3 4 5

    8. Water quality 1 2 3 4 5

19. Please rate the trends in the following coastal and marine resources compared to how these were when you first started fishing in the area, where 1` is much better and 5 is much worse.

    1. Fish and fisheries 1 2 3 4 5

    2. Lobster 1 2 3 4 5

    3. Conch 1 2 3 4 5

    4. Coral reefs 1 2 3 4 5

    5. Sea grasses 1 2 3 4 5

    6. Mangroves 1 2 3 4 5

    7. Other rocky bottom 1 2 3 4 5

    8. Water quality 1 2 3 4 5

20. Please rate the following types of users/vessels in terms of their impacts on coastal and marine resources, where 1 is the least impact and 5 is the most impact.

    1. Recreational fishers 1 2 3 4 5

    2. Commercial fishers 1 2 3 4 5

    3. Recreational divers 1 2 3 4 5

    4. Commercial divers 1 2 3 4 5

    5. Large party boats/cats 1 2 3 4 5

    6. Charter boats (6-pack) 1 2 3 4 5

    7. Private vessels 1 2 3 4 5

    8. Others (____________) 1 2 3 4 5

21. Which coastal and marine resources have most declined the most in your area of use and why? What are the reasons for the decline?

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

22. In terms of use total, please state whether the following users/vessels should be decreased, remain the same, or be increased in the areas where you operate.

GROUP	Decrease	Same	Increase	Desired % change
Commercial fishers
Recreational fishers
Private boaters
Large party boats/cats
Charter boats
Commercial divers
Recreational divers
Water taxis
Kayaks/SUPs
Jet skis
Other ___________

23. What coastal or marine resources would you identify as indicators that can be tracked such that if changes were to occur to these indicators, changes in management should take place?

    1. ____________________________

    2. ____________________________

    3. ____________________________

24. What type of management measures would you prefer to address ongoing resource impacts or to maintain present conditions? Please rate the measures on a scale from 1-5, where is 1 is least preferred, and 5 is most preferred.

1. No use areas 1 2 3 4 5

2. No take areas 1 2 3 4 5

3. Zoned areas, by use 1 2 3 4 5

4. Education and awareness 1 2 3 4 5

5. Enforcement 1 2 3 4 5

25. In the accompanying map, please identify areas that could be zoned as:

    1. No use/activity (sensitive areas with fragile and vulnerable habitats)

    2. No take (no fishing or other extractive activities)

    3. Use separation (areas where different uses are allowed)

26. Would you favor having some type of limit on the total number of users in your activity area? YES NO

27. If there were to be limits on total numbers of users, please rate your preference for the following limits options, where 1 is most preferred and 5 is least preferred.

1. Daily limits on vessels by area 1 2 3 4 5

2. Daily limits on visitors by area 1 2 3 4 5

3. Mandatory operator licensing 1 2 3 4 5

4. Mandatory mooring buoy use 1 2 3 4 5

5. Limited entry for operators 1 2 3 4 5

6. Rotation of areas for use 1 2 3 4 5

Map showing NMC and environs for questions 13 and 25.