January 20, 2023 — The National Marine Fisheries Service social sciences branch is launching a voluntary survey of fishermen from Maine to North Carolina to collect information about their calendar year 2022 commercial fishing expenses.
Survey letters will start going out in March to active, federally-permitted commercial fishing vessel owners in the NMFS Greater Atlantic region, which extends from Maine to North Carolina. It’s the first such survey since 2016.
The confidential survey is the only way the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration can collect such information, according to a recent announcement by NMFS. Agency officials say the results will be used to “develop economic analyses that inform commercial fishing regulation and policies to better meet the requirements of the Magnuson-Stevens Act and National Standard 8,” and to “better understand the effects of regulations on commercial fishing businesses and communities.”