February 18, 2021 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:
NOAA Fisheries and the University of Florida launched a phone survey in January to continue assessing the impact of COVID-19 on commercial/for-hire fishing operations, and on seafood dealers and processors. Thank you to those of you that have already responded. A second round of phone calls began on February 12th.
This survey will assist us in assessing economic impacts on individual businesses over the entire 2020 calendar year. It is a follow-up to a survey conducted during July/August 2020 on impacts for the first half of the year. The first reports using results from last summer’s survey as well as other data can be found here.
We are using this multi-region survey to inform NOAA Fisheries, the Department of Commerce, Congress, fishery management councils, state fishery managers, and stakeholders about the economic and social impacts of Covid-19 on the fishing industry.
If You Get a Call
Phone survey participants were randomly selected to participate. If you were selected, you will receive a phone call from the University of Florida with a 352 area code. Your response is very important to the success of this survey. It will take less than 10 minutes, and the information you provide is strictly confidential.
For more information on the phone survey, see this bulletin from NOAA Fisheries’ Southeast Region.