For-hire cost/ earnings survey

Nearly 1.6 million passengers fished aboard for-hire recreational fishing vessels during 2011 in the Northeast United States (ME - NC). While the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) regularly collects detailed catch, effort, and expenditure information from anglers fishing aboard for-hire vessels, no data are collected about the business structure and costs of the marine for-hire fishing industry operating in the Northeast. This study is intended to fill that gap.

Survey results show that the overall financial condition of marine recreational for-hire fishing businesses in the Northeast is mixed. Assets exceed liabilities by over four times for the average charter and head boat, and over 90% of charter and head boat owners carry insurance coverage. This implies that a rather strong financial for-hire fishing fleet exists in the Northeast. The results also reveal that the average charter boat produced only a little over $5.1 thousand in net income in 2010 and that over half of the charter boats in the Northeast actually incurred higher expenses than revenues in 2010. In contrast, the average head boat generated over $95.1 thousand in net income in 2010 although median net income per head boat was lower at $50.1 thousand.

In addition to providing a detailed overview of the operating structure of the "average" Northeast for-hire head boat and charter boat, we constructed an input-output model to estimate the economic activity that for-hire businesses contribute to the Northeast's economy as measured by total employment, labor income, and sales. Model results show that in 2010 the for-hire industry earned $140.3 million in revenue, generated $50.4 million in income to owners, hired captains, crew/mates, and office staff, and employed over 6,200 individuals. The multiplier effects of this activity were substantial. An additional $193.7 million in sales, $66.5 million in income, and 1,290 jobs in other businesses in the Northeast were supported by the for-hire industry through indirect and induced transactions. Service businesses (real estate, food services, marinas, repair shops, etc.), wholesale and retail trade businesses (sporting goods stores, bait shops, gas stations, etc.), and manufacturing businesses (fishing gear manufactures, fuel refineries, commercial fishermen [bait], etc.) were the enterprises most reliant on the for-hire fleet. Over 700 service sector jobs, 360 wholesale and retail trade jobs, and 63 manufacturing jobs were dependent upon the for-hire fleet in the Northeast in 2010. In total, an estimated 7,530 jobs, in the overall Northeast regional economy, were supported by the active for-hire fleet in 2010.

Voluntary mail, telephone, and in-person surveys were designed to collect information on annual costs, returns, business structure, effort, demographics, and attitudinal data from for-hire vessel owners in the Northeast from January 2011 through July 2011. Surveys were completed by 295 vessel owners who provided data on 332 distinct for-hire vessels in the Northeast.

The primary goals of the study are to:

1. Provide a comprehensive overview of the economic condition of the for-hire industry in the Northeast;

2. Estimate the contribution of the for-hire industry to the overall economy in the Northeast; and,

3. Collect the data necessary for the development of economic models used to assess how for-hire businesses operations are affected by proposed management policies.

http://www.nefsc.noaa.gov/publications/crd/crd1303/

Steinback S, Brinson A. 2013. The Economics of the Recreational For-hire Fishing Industry in the Northeast United States. US Dept Commer, Northeast Fish Sci Cent Ref Doc. 13-03; 49 p

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None, but contact owner for special instructions on using the data sets

None, but contact owner for special instructions on using the data sets

None, but contact owner for special instructions on using the data sets

Unix SAS data sets (version 7), 3 data sets totaling 1,018 KB

Three methods were used to collect data from for-hire owners: personal interviews, mail surveys, and telephone surveys. Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) tests were conducted to evaluate differences in means for statistical significance across the three data collection vehicles.

Tests were conducted using the GLM procedure in SAS, which can be used to perform analysis of variance tests on unbalanced data sets. There were unequal numbers of observations in each survey treatment group because the number of telephone-completed surveys was considerably lower than those completed through personal interviews or by mail. ANOVA tests were only performed on financial data collected from for-hire owners.

Survey responses were tested in Statistical Analysis Software (SAS) for internal consistency. To maximize the useable responses, outliers and inconsistent observations were eliminated without removing the entire record.[5] Although it would have been preferable to use only data from respondents who completed every relevant survey question, the amount of data available did not allow for this more restrictive interpretation of a response. Thus, incomplete records were included in the financial assessments under the assumption that the sample responses reflect the true population parameters. Reasonable sample sizes exist for all reported results, so the sample responses are considered representative of the entire for-hire fleet in the Northeast. Additionally, missing income and cost values were converted to zero values when appropriate, and because of difficulty assigning financial data to a particular vessel, cost and earnings information from vessel owners who owned both charter and head boats were excluded from the financial analyses.

not applicable

Archival of source data preserving unaltered collected data, Scheduled backups, Remote storage backups, Password protection

survey responses were key-punched and audited by a contract firm with recreational fisheries data collection expertise. Later, they were tested in SAS for internal consistency. Outliers and inconsistent observations were eliminated.