Survey Instrument

dialing period to report online. If a complete online report was not received by Wednesday, the UPRSG staff attempted to contact the permit holder by telephone starting on Thursday.

Telephone interviews were conducted using Qualtrics Computer Assisted Interview (CAI) software. Dialing began on day 1 (Monday) of the 7-day dialing period for all selected permit holders, except for those who indicated they prefer to report online. A minimum of 5 call attempts were made to contact each sampled vessel’s representative. Telephone calls were made during the time of day that maximized the potential to contact vessel operators. Interviewers made use of both day and evening phone numbers, if provided by permit holders in the database. No calls were made between 9:00 PM and 9:00 AM. Once a vessel representative was contacted, future calls to that individual were made on an appointment basis if the interview could not be completed at the time of initial contact. Respondents were questioned as to the best time and number to call back in order to complete the interview.

Interviewers continued to attempt to contact vessel representatives until they conducted an interview, received a fishing report through the Internet tool, determined that the boat was no longer operating, or made the minimum of five attempts. After five call attempts had been made the interviewer left a brief message on voice mail or an answering machine. The message included a toll-free call-back number and available times to conduct the interview. UPRSG staff recorded the results of each attempt for each sampled vessel.

Survey Instrument

The project team developed and tested the survey instrument (see Appendix) with input from Puerto Rico fishing industry participants, fisheries biologists, and HMS Advisory Panel members. Questions were designed to collect detailed catch and effort information related to recreational HMS fishing activity during the designated two-week period. For purposes of the survey, HMS activity was defined as any trip targeting tunas, sharks, billfish, swordfish, dolphin, wahoo, or amberjack.

Data Analyses Methods

Unit response rate was defined as the ratio of the number of completed telephone interviews (or sufficient partials) to the number of in-scope sample cases. In-scope sample cases was calculated as: completed interviews + partial interviews with key minimum data elements + refusals + non-response due to any other reason (e.g., language barrier, illness) + non-contacts.

5

Summary statistics were computed by sampling period and mode for HMS trip prevalence rates, mean HMS trip avidity per vessel, and mean billfish directed trip avidity. Trips return times (HMS and billfish directed) reported by respondents to the nearest half-hour were pooled into five time intervals for analysis by mode. Hook type used (i.e., J-hook versus Circle hook) for blue marlin releases were analyzed by mode and tournament status. Sampling weights were computed for each bi-weekly sampling period and mode stratum as the sample frame divided by

5 Office of Management and Budget. 2006. Standards and Guidelines for Statistical Surveys.

the number of completed interviews. Sample weights were used, where indicated, for most analyses that involved combining strata.

Catch and effort estimates were produced using the SAS V9.3 SURVEYMEANS Procedure for stratified random sampling (stratum= bi-weekly sampling period). For combined mode estimates strata including both sampling period and mode. Trips that returned to ports outside of Puerto Rico were not included in these estimates. Estimates of mean trip and catch rates per vessel and associated variance estimates were produced for the following:

 HMS trips  Directed billfish trips (defined as caught or targeted a billfish)  HMS tournament trips  HMS tournaments trips targeting blue marlin  Blue marlin released alive  Blue marlin released alive in tournaments  Blue marlin tagged and released

Mean trip and catch rates per vessel were expanded by the total frame size across all strata (i.e. sum of weights) to arrive at estimates of total effort and catch. Variances of expanded estimates were calculated as the variance of the mean multiplied by the sum of weights squared. Percent standard error (PSE) and estimated 95% upper and lower confidence limits were calculated using standard statistical formulas.