This survey employed a two page, self-administered mail survey structured to collect economic and financial information from dockside seafood dealers who operated seafood businesses located in the five Gulf states (Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and West Florida). The survey collected information regarding seafood business characteristics and economic data needed for various economic and financial analysis. Prior to the data being collected, the population was stratified by state, and 946 potential respondents were randomly selected from a population of 1,238 individuals who held a seafood dealer license for the baseline year of 2009.

This mail survey collected data on the economic performance of active commercial shrimp harvesters who primarily operated in inshore waters of western Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas throughout 2008. It is designed to complement a similar economic data collection of commercial shrimp harvesters in offshore waters of the Gulf (those holding a federal shrimp permit). Data regarding vessel values, indebtedness, commercial shrimp harvesting activities, revenues, and expenses were collected in order to produce simple standardized financial statements, including a balance sheet, cash flow statement, and income statement for the average or typical vessel.

This survey provides economic data related to marine recreational fishing in the Gulf of Mexico. The data collected include preference and opinion information necessary to accurately measure the economic effects of regulation changes on the recreational fishing community. The mail survey design was stratified to cover three sampling frames: 1) the MRIP saltwater angler registry for private boat anglers 2) the LA for-hire angler license frame for these anglers and 3) volunteers intercepted by MRIP for for-hire anglers outside of LA. A stated preference choice experiment allows for the calculation of willingness to pay related to four important species.

This survey collected data to generate a comprehensive review of the economic and policy status of the recreational for-hire sector in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, including charter, head, and guide boats. The survey created a socioeconomic dataset that can be used to analyze future economic, environmental, and policy questions, including those related to natural disturbances and the ongoing regulation of resource utilization in the Gulf. The specific project objectives included a) collecting economic, social, and policy data for all segments of the for-hire sector b) identifying groups of respondents with relatively homogeneous characteristics, thereby defining operational classes that may be the focus of targeted, management-based economic and policy analysis and c) constructing costs, earnings, and attitudinal profiles by operational class and state/region. The survey was conducted by mail, internet, and in-person interviews in 2010.

This mail survey collected economic data on inshore commercial shrimp fishermen who held licenses to commercially harvest shrimp in state waters of the U.S. Gulf of Mexico throughout 2012. It is designed to complement a similar economic data collection of commercial shrimp harvesters in offshore waters of the Gulf (those holding a federal shrimp permit). Data regarding vessel values, indebtedness, commercial shrimp harvesting activities, revenues, and expenses were collected in order to produce simple standardized financial statements, including a balance sheet, cash flow statement, and income statement for the average or typical vessel.

The Southeast Fisheries Science Center Mississippi Laboratories conducts standardized fisheries independent resource surveys in the Gulf of Mexico, South Atlantic, and U.S. Caribbean to provide abundance and distribution information to support regional and international stock assessments. The reef fish survey is conducted primarily on the outer continental shelf of the Gulf of Mexico along topographic features (e.g. reefs, banks and ledges) between Brownsville, TX to the Dry Tortugas, FL. A two-stage sampling design is used with the first stage or primary sampling units being blocks 10 minutes of latitude by 10 minutes of longitude and the second stage being randomly selected sites within the blocks. The first-stage units are selected by stratified random sampling, with stratum boundaries defined by geographic region (4 regions: South Florida, Northeast Gulf, Louisiana-Texas Shelf, and South Texas), and by reef habitat area (Blocks < 20 km² reef, Blocks > 20 km² reef). Sampling is conducted using a video camera array, vertical line gear and chevron traps with approximately 400 video cameras, 400 vertical line and 100 traps conducted. The camera array consists of four housings positioned orthogonally and center mounted at a height of 51 cm above the bottom of the array. Each housing contains a pair of black-and-white Videre stereo cameras along with a color mpeg camera. Sampling of reef sites with video cameras occurs only during daylight hours, with the first gear deployment one hour after sunrise and the last gear retrieval one hour prior to sunset. Video arrays soak for 35 minutes. At sites selected for fish sampling, a chevron (or arrow) fish trap or vertical line is used to capture fish for biological samples. The chevron fish trap is constructed with 1.5-inch vinyl-clad mesh. In its greatest dimensions, the trap is 1.76 m in length, 1.52 m in width and 0.61 m in depth. A 0.4 m by 0.29 m blow out panel is placed on one side and kept closed using 7-day magnesium releases. The fish trap soaks for one hour and is baited with squid. The vertical line consists of a mainline with 10 gangions. One 8/0, 11/0 or 15/0 circle hook is attached to each gangion and baited with mackerel (Scomber scombrus). The mainline is soaked for five minutes. Most of the animals captured are measured, weighed, tagged and then released. Those individuals which are moribund or have expired are retained to collect biological data pertaining to the life history of these fishes. Habitat mapping is conducted using the SIMRAD ME70 multibeam echosounder. At each site hydrological data is collected using Conductivity Temperature Depth sensor (CTD).

The Southeast Fisheries Science Center Mississippi Laboratories conducts standardized fisheries independent resource surveys in the Gulf of Mexico, South Atlantic, and U.S. Caribbean to provide abundance and distribution information to support regional and international stock assessments. A standardized reef fish survey is conducted in the U.S. Caribbean every 2nd or 3rd year with the objective of determining the relative abundance of reef fish on the shelf waters of Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. This survey uses video cameras, fish traps and vertical line gear, with approximately 200 video cameras, 200 vertical line and 100 traps conducted. The camera array consists of four housings positioned orthogonally and center mounted at a height of 51 cm above the bottom of the array. Each housing contains a pair of black-and-white Videre stereo cameras along with a color mpeg camera. Sampling of reef sites with video cameras occurs only during daylight hours, with the first gear deployment one hour after sunrise and the last gear retrieval one hour prior to sunset. Video arrays are soaked for 35 minutes. At sites selected for fish sampling, a chevron (or arrow) fish trap or vertical line is used to capture fish for biological samples. The chevron fish trap is constructed with 1.5-inch vinyl-clad mesh. In its greatest dimensions, the trap is 1.76 m in length, 1.52 m in width and 0.61 m in depth. A 0.4 m by 0.29 m blow out panel is placed on one side and kept closed using 7-day magnesium releases. The fish trap soaks for one hour and is baited with squid. The vertical line consists of a mainline with 10 gangions attached that is either deployed or attached to the vessel. One 8/0, 11/0 or 15/0 circle hook is attached to each gangion and baited with mackerel (Scomber scombrus). The mainline is soaked for five minutes. Most of the animals captured are measured, weighed, tagged and then released. Those individuals which are moribund or have expired are retained to collect biological data pertaining to the life history of these fishes. Habitat mapping is conducted using the SIMRAD ME70 multibeam echosounder. At each site hydrological data is collected using Conductivity Temperature Depth sensor (CTD).

The Southeast Fisheries Science Center Mississippi Laboratories conducts standardized fisheries independent resource surveys in the Gulf of Mexico, South Atlantic, and U.S. Caribbean to provide abundance and distribution information to support regional and international stock assessments. In 2011, the R/V Gandy conducted a survey of reef fish located on the continental shelf and shelf-edge of the western Gulf of Mexico using bandit reels (vertical lines). Data were collected using using ten gangions, five #11/0 circle hooks and five #8/0 circle hooks. The data provided additional life history information for a red snapper benchmark stock assessment.

This chapter examines the methodological challenges associated with collecting economic data from the for-hire fishing sector. A cost and earnings survey of charter boat operators in the Southeast United States serves as a case study. In the case study, a telephone survey was used to collect information about individual trips and a mail survey was used to collect complementary data about annual expenses. The results of the case study are used in the discussion of economic data requirements and survey methodology most applicable to the charter boat industry. Recommendations are provided for improving the design of surveys to collect economic data from the for-hire sector.

The Annual Economic Survey of Federal Gulf and Atlantic Shrimp Permit Holders collects data about operating expenses and costs of owning and maintaining shrimp vessels. Each spring, surveys are sent by mail to a random sample of 33 of all vessels with federal permits for the harvest of Gulf of Mexico penaeid shrimp or South Atlantic penaeid or rock shrimp. This information is used to assess trends in the financial and economic state of the fisheries, and to determine the economic and social effects of regulations and other factors affecting the Southeast shrimp fisheries. The individual information is confidential and only summary statistics are released to the public.