Only permanent, year-round residents of households in coastal counties are eligible to be interviewed as part of the telephone household survey. If the person answering the telephone (e.g., babysitter) is unable to give enough information to determine if the household is eligible, then the household must be recontacted.
Respondents from businesses, institutional housing, part-year housing and coin-operated telephones are ineligible. If a business is located at a residence but has a telephone number separate from the residence, then it is considered a business telephone. However, if the telephone number is shared, it is a residential telephone.
Even though a Spanish speaking interviewer must be available for dialings to areas with large Hispanic populations, there may be occasions that the respondent speaks another foreign language. If the interviewer is unable to talk with anyone else in the household that can communicate in English, then the household is ineligible for the survey because of the language barrier.
The telephone household survey screening must generally match the intercept survey in terms of data elements necessary to screen for eligible anglers. However, due to the differences between the respondents of these surveys, different approaches may be taken in the line of questioning. For the telephone household survey, it is most efficient to establish that there are persons who fish in the household before conducting additional screening. Asking a very generic initial question like "Does anyone in this household go fishing?" will accomplish this goal. In past years, all of these data were essentially collected, then discarded, since the interviewer conducts the screening for each trip. However, some of these data have potential use in reducing variances associated with the adjustment of trips estimates by the coastal/non-coastal resident ratio from the intercept survey. Beginning in 1996, some of these data will be kept, but flagged.
Other screening questions must address the following items.
1. Recreational vs commercial - Recreational anglers are those individuals whose primary purpose of fishing is for fun or relaxation, as opposed to providing income from the sale of fish. If part or all of the catch was sold, the monetary returns may have constituted an insignificant part of the angler's income; if so, the angler is considered recreational. Commercial trip data are not kept. Charter/party trips made by charter/party boat captains and crew members as busiess trips are ineligible, although trips made by captains or crew for their own pleasure are eleigible.
2. Saltwater vs freshwater - Saltwater includes oceans and open water areas, as well as inland salt or brackish water bodies affected by the tides. Inland saltwater bodies include sounds, passes, inlets, bays, estuaries, tidal portions of rivers, and other areas of salt or brackish water like bayous and canals. Some coastal water bodies are called lakes but should still be considered saltwater, i.e., Lake Pontchartrain, Louisiana. However, high salinity non-coastal lakes like the Salton Sea in Southern California are not valid marine recreational fishing areas. These trip data are not kept.
3. Finfish vs shellfish - Only fishing trips directed at fish with fins are eligible for a full interview. Information on trips made in pursuit of crabs, shrimp, lobster, clams, oysters, mussels, scallops, and other invertebrates is obtained through a follow-up shellfishing questionnaire. These trip data are not kept.
4. In-state fishing vs out-of-state fishing - Fishing trips made out-of-state are to be flagged. For survey purposes, the east and west coasts of Florida and Northern California and Southern California are equivalent to separate states. Boat anglers who left from their home state and fished in waters off another state are eligible for the survey, and are not flagged. Fishing trips from foreign ports or in foreign waters leaving from U.S. ports are to be flagged. This is a particular concern in the San Diego area.
5. Fishing in the past two months - Only fishing trips made in the last two months are eligible for the survey. Data on trips previous to the two-month period are not kept.
6. Salmon fishing on the Pacific coast - Fishing trips for slamon on the Pacific coast are to be flagged. To avoid duplication with ongoing state survey efforts for salmon, all fishing trips targeted on salmon in Washington are to be flagged. Ocean boat fishing trips for salmon in waves 3 and 4 in Oregon are to be flagged. All boat fishing trips for salmon in waves 3 and 4 in Northern California are to be flagged.
Flagged trip records will use the following codes for a trip_flg variable:
1=out-of state
2=salmon fishing trip.
All surveys conducted by the federal government are regulated by the Privacy Act of 1974. This Act stipulates that each person interviewed must be informed of the following; the auspices under which the survey is being conducted, whether participation is voluntary or mandatory, what will happen if they choose not to participate, and how the information will be used.
Under the Privacy Act, the person interviewed remains anonymous, the responses to the questions are completely voluntary, and there is no penalty for refusal to answer any or all of the questions. All of the information collected remains completely confidential. The Act is paraphrased on each questionnaire and must be read at the designated point in the screening introduction. A copy of the Privacy Act Statement (Attachment D) must be in possession of the interviewer and may be read at any point during the interview to reassure a wary respondent.
Copies of the 1996 Telephone Household Questionnaires are included in Attachment M. Some general instructions for conducting the interview are:
1. Wording The questions to be put to the angler are written out in full for a purpose. Methodological studies have shown that even slight changes in wording, for example, "should" versus "could", drastically influence item response. The interviewer should always read each item on the Telephone Household Questionnaire exactly as it is written. Instructions to interviewers that are not to be read during the interview are written in CAPITAL LETTERS on the Telephone Household Questionnaire.
2. Provide Definitions, Not Answers If the angler asks for the interviewer's opinion about an item, the interviewer should provide a definition for the item in question, rather than supply an opinion or the actual response. For example, if the angler is unsure about whether he was fishing from a partyboat or a charter boat, the interviewer should explain the difference and let the angler decide.
3. Codes for Not Applicable Questions As a general rule, items on the questionnaire that are not applicable to a particular angler (i.e., items falling out in skip patterns) are coded with "8"'s, as indicated on the questionnaire.
4. Codes for Refused Questions As a general rule, items on the questionnaire that are refused are coded with "9"s.
5. Codes for Don't Know As a general rule, items on the Questionnaire that the angler does not know the answer to are coded with "9"'s and a last digit of "8".
6. Right Justify and Add Leading Zeros If a data entry does not require use of all boxes provided, the interviewer should right justify the entry and add leading zeros.
7. "Other (SPECIFY)" The response codes for some data items are not exhaustive and include codes designated "Other (SPECIFY)". If an angler gives a response not covered by the precoded responses, the interviewer should enter the "other" code and write out the angler's exact response next to the coding boxes.
8. Notes/Footnotes Unusual responses require explanation through the use of footnotes on the coding form. For example, more than two or three party/charter trips by a single angler during a wave would not be common and would require a note. In such cases the interviewer should place an asterisk (*) by the item and provide a footnote explaining the situation near the bottom of the coding form.
9. Terminate Some responses are followed by the instruction to "TERMINATE." When the respondent answers with a response which has the "TERMINATE" instruction following it, the interviewer must thank the respondent pleasantly and say goodbye.
10. Maps Maps for the State being dialed must be available to help interviewers determine the county in which cities are located and to help locate areas of fishing. Saltwater cut-off points for rivers are particularly useful to help determine if the respondent was fishing in fresh or saltwater.
These instructions apply to the 1995 telephone household questionnaires (Attachment M). Some change in data items should be expected from region-to-region and year-to-year.
Screening Questions
Item 1 County of Residence? This question verifies the location of the household dialed. The interviewer must write out the county name in addition to the three digit FIPS code. If the respondent does not know his/her county of residence, the interviewer should arrange to talk to someone in the household that does know.
Item 2 Permanent Residence? This question verifies that the household contacted is a permanent, year-round residence. If the dwelling reached is a summer or winter cottage, for example, the respondent is not eligible for the survey and the interview is terminated. It is not necessary that the respondent has lived at that residence for two months prior to the survey, so it is okay to take information from people who have just moved in.
Item 3a Anglers in Household? If no one in the household goes fishing for finfish, then the interviewer should skip to the shellfishing questionnaire.
Item 3b Twelve Month Fishing? The interviewer must be careful to read this question exactly. It contains language to screen out anglers except those fishing recreationally, in saltwater, for finfish, in the last twelve months in the state of interview. The interview should skip to the shellfish questionnaire if no one meets the screening criteria. If the respondent cannot provide this information, then the interviewer must arrange to talk to someone in the household who can.
Item 4 Two Month Fishing? This question should also be read carefully since it screens out ineligible anglers. The interview should skip to the shellfish questionnaire if no one meets the screening criteria. If the respondent cannot provide this information, then the interviewer must arrange to talk to someone in the household who can.
Interview Questions
All anglers in the household must be interviewed separately about their fishing trips in the last two months. There are exceptions to this rule. If the initial respondent indicates that all household trips were made as a group, then their responses can be applied to the remaining household anglers without separate interviews. Also, an adult can speak for a small child if he/she is knowledgeable of the child's fishing trips. Other occasions that would require responses from an individual about another household member's trips would include language barriers, extended travel away from the household, hospitalization, or even death. If more than five callback attempts fail to reach a particular member of the household, it may be necessary to ultimately gather the best information available on that person's trips from another household member (proxy data). The collection of proxy data is preferable to missing data.
Information gathered from household members other than the angler must be collected according to the following guidelines, developed in 1993 to maintain consistency and ensure accuracy from year to year. These include: 1) asking specific questions before obtaining proxy data; 2) prioritizing information collected (trips, then mode, then dates); and 3) omitting questions regarding detailed trip information after the first "don't know" response. Telephone interviewers will continue to make at least five callbacks to interview an angler before proxy data is taken. If a proxy respondent does not know the total number of trips made in the last two months, no proxy data is obtained. Proxy data is identified with the variable "SOURCE" (coded '2') in the Type 2 telephone datasets.
The screening introduction must be repeated for each additional angler interviewed. All anglers are asked to recall 1) the total number of trips made in the last two months, and 2) starting with the most recent trip, work backwards in time to completely profile each trip. If interviewing takes place on February 23, information can be taken on trips from December 23 through February 23. CATI systems should display allowable dates, or interviewers must have a calendar available to help respondents with dates, particularly with weekend dates.
If a angler cannot recall all the trips within the two month period, the interviewer must note the date they stopped counting. The angler must then be asked to estimate the number of trips and mode of fishing during the period between their last reported trip date and the beginning of the two month period. A trip record is created for each trip even if complete details are not remembered.
A fishing trip is defined as fishing during part or all of one waking day in one mode. A angler who fished from both a pier and a jetty on the same day made one fishing trip since the pier and jetty are both in the shore mode. However, a angler who fished from a party boat in the morning and from a pier in the afternoon is counted as having made two fishing trips--a party boat trip and a shore trip.
Fishing trips should be considered to be waking days, as opposed to calendar days. A trip beginning in the evening but ending past midnight would be considered one trip. Problems arise when an interviewer comes across a angler who has been on a trip, most likely a boat trip, lasting several days. In this instance, each of the angler's waking days would be considered a separate trip. If the angler's waking day was more than 24 hours, then more than one trip should be recorded since a single trip cannot be longer than 24 hours.
Item 1 Two-Month Trips? - The interviewer must record the total numbers of all fishing trips made in the previous two months. An inadvertant change in procedures in waves 1-3 of 1993 resulted in the discovery that this question is critical for the respondant to "commit" to the profiling of all of his/her trips.
Item 2 Date of Trip? The interviewer must record the date of the fishing trip and assign a consecutive trip number for that angler. If the respondent cannot recall the exact day of the month, "00" should be recorded.
Item 3 Mode of Fishing? Interviewers must record a single fishing mode for each trip. If more than one mode was used during a fishing day, the interviewers should record each mode as a separate trip. Respondents should be given definitions of particular modes if they have difficulty categorizing their fishing activity. Definitions for fishing modes are found in Section 2.2.1.2. Some unusual responses should be coded as:
IF THE ANGLER SAYS: CODE:
"Sea Wall" "4"Other manmade structure and write "sea wall"
"This used to be a bridge "1"Pier
but it is now used as a
fishing pier."
"I hired and fished from "7"Charter boat
a guide boat."
"I boated to a pier/dock/ "1", "2", "3" or "4"
jetty/breakwater/breachway/
Manmade structure
bridge/causeway, got out of
the boat and fished from
the pier/dock/jetty/breakwater/
breachway/bridge/causeway."
"I boated to an oil/gas "4"Other manmade
platform, got out of the structure and write
boat and fished from the "oil/gas platform"
oil/gas platform."
"I boated to a beach/bank, "5"Beach or bank
got out of the boat and
fished from the beach/bank."
"I boated to a reef, got "6", "7" or "8" Code
out of the boat and fished to type of boat used
while standing on the reef."
"I boated to a barge, got "6"Partyboat
out of the boat and fished
from the barge."
NOTE: The interviewer must repeat Items 1 and 2 until all trips the angler has taken during the two month period have been recorded.
Item 4 Boat Access Type? If the mode was private/rental boat, the interviewer asks whether the public has access to the place from which the boat left or whether the access site is private. If the answer is "public", the type of site is asked: launch ramp (code "1"), boat slip (code "2"), moored from dock (code "3"), or other (code "4") with other specified. If the answer was private, the type of site is asked: personal residence or dock (code "5"), private locked gate marina (code "6", or other (code "8") with other specified.
Item 5 Time of Return? - If fishing mode was boat, ask the angler to report the time when his/her boat returned. If fishing mode was shore, ask the angler what time he/she stopped fishing for the day.
Item 6 Type of Water Fished? Anglers are asked what type of "water body" they did most of their fishing in during that day's fishing trip. Follow-up questions are necessary for certain responses to ascertain whether fishing was in saltwater or freshwater and ocean versus inland.
IF THE ANGLER SAYS ASK
"River" Was that in the lower part of the river which is brackish or affected by the tide? If the answer is no, then the trip should be considered to be in freshwater and should be disregarded.
"Bay" Was that an open bay or an enclosed bay? Open bays are not true bays but stretches of ocean that are called "Such-n-such" bay by local residents. Examples would be "Cape Cod Bay" and "Monterey Bay." Open bays should be coded as "open water".
"Inlet" Were you more toward the outside or toward the inside of the inlet? Outside responses should be coded as "open water" and inside responses should be coded as "inlet".
NOTE: Flag trips from anglers who went fishing in foreign waters, even if their boat was launched from a U.S. port. This is a particular concern in the San Diego area.
Item 7 County of Fishing? Interviewers should record the three digit FIPS code for the county of fishing, or if fishing from a boat, the county where the boat returned should be coded. If the respondant does not know the county of fishing, try to elicit a town or port name that can be later related to county.
Item 8 Oil, Gas or Reef? On the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts, this item is pertinent to all anglers, except those in Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Connecticut, where this question is not asked.
In New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and East Florida interviewers can leave off the "oil or gas platform" part of the question and ask: "Was most of your boat fishing today within 200 feet of an artificial reef?"
Interviewers in West Florida, Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana should ask the question including both "oil or gas platform" and "artificial reef" of all anglers fishing from boats. The appropriate code would then be entered.
For Maine south through Virginia
Item 8 Striped Bass? - For all anglers, ask if the angler, for each reported trip, personally caught any striped bass. If the answer is "yes", ask how many did the angler personally catch, and how many were kept.
For North Carolina south through Florida and in the Gulf
Item 9 Saltwater Tournament? - The interviewer asks if the angler was fishing in a saltwater tournament on that trip? If the answer was "yes", further questioning is necessary to determine if the tournament lasted seven days or less and if it was directed at gamefish. gamefish is defined as king and Spanish mackerel, dolphin, tuna, sharks, wahoo, bluefish, and billfish.
All Areas - Shellfishing Questionnaire
The shellfish questions are asked at the end of fishing household interviews of the entire household (i.e. after the last angler in the household has been interviewed). These questions are also asked of persons representing households that are ineligible for fishing interviews.
Item 1 Go Shellfishing? - The respondent is asked if anyone in the household went recreationally fishing for shellfish in saltwater in the last 12 months. Shellfish is defined as lobster, crab, shrimp, oysters, mussels, clams, scallops, etc. If the answer is "yes", check the yes box and continue. If "no", check the no box, offer thanks for the interview and politely terminate the interview.
Item 2 People Who Shellfished? - The interviewer asks how many people from the household participated in shellfishing in the past two months in the state.
Item 3 Trips? - The interviewer asks how many trips did each of those fishermen take and records the total, aggregated number of trips.
Item 4 Target Species? - The interviewer asks what was the target species on those trips and if all trips were for the same species. The interviewer should probe to get the number of trips for each type of shellfish mentioned. The total of these numbers should equal the total number of trips recorded in Item 3.
If the initial contact indicates that any members of the household are marine recreational anglers, every effort must be made to complete interviews with all possible eligible anglers in the household. At least five follow-up calls must be made to the household to interview anglers who were not available when the initial contact was made. The most efficient approach is to schedule times for these callbacks that are convenient for anglers in the household.