SECTION 4 SURVEYS AND OTHER DATA SOURCES
4.0 The Omnibus Survey
The omnibus survey sought to identify the number and characteristics of sea anglers and the distribution of angler effort across shore, own boat and the regional distribution angler. Sea angling questions were incorporated into a household telephone survey undertaken by Progressive Ltd of Edinburgh. The sea angling questions were presented to 15,037 people. The Scottish omnibus survey sampling unit is adults, whereas other omnibus surveys have focussed on households (eg Drew Associates 2004). Two important issues are the number of under 18's participating in sea angling and the number of non-Scottish visitors. We used a combination of published data and information from our other survey instruments to refine our estimation of the total population.
It was been necessary to align the omnibus survey results with the specifically devised regions agreed at the Steering Group. The sampling frame and "normal" output from the omnibus survey is based on the 1991 Regions (Strathclyde, Lothians, Central etc). We therefore faced a problem of amending the omnibus results to comply with the RSA study's specific regions 36. Fortunately, at the initial specification stage (before the SG decision on regions), it had been decided to ask for postcode district information. A postcode district is the first part of the postcode e.g. G84 and there are some 480 districts in Scotland. The census provides data on standardised post code areas which are sub-divisions of districts. In most cases the number of divisions is quite limited (3 or 4) thus it is not too difficult to identify the characteristics of population in the post code district. The resulting spread of respondents is given below.
4.1 The Internet Survey
The Internet questionnaire was authored using SNAP software. An initial version was piloted among members of the SG and forwarded to selected anglers by the Scottish Sea Angling Conservation Network. We received comments and suggestions from 13 individuals. The questionnaire was amended as appropriate and piloted for a second time. Apart from some minor presentational tweaks, no further changes were made and the questionnaire went live in late May.
A significant effort went into promoting the questionnaire among the sea angling community. Thirty five thousand postcards, containing the message overleaf were distributed to tackle shops, angling clubs and charter boat proprietors.
An Appeal from the Scottish Sea Angling Conservation Network
Policy towards Scottish sea angling has been hindered because little is known about it. The Scottish Government is now rectifying this by funding a team of economists to produce an economic assessment of sea angling in Scotland. When completed, this study will help to ensure that policy makers are well informed about Scottish sea angling's true significance and how best to realise its future potential. The Scottish Sea Angling Conservation Network ( www.ssacn.org) strongly supports this study and is appealing for sea anglers' to provide information.
We believe that it is absolutely essential that as many sea anglers as possible complete an on-line questionnaire. If you have fished for sea species anywhere in Scotland in the past three years we urge you to click on the address below and complete the questionnaire. Even if you fished once for a couple of hours, the study team would like information from you
http://www.gcal.ac.uk/econsurv/seaangler3.htm
As can be seen, the appeal was from SSACN, rather than the Glasgow Caledonian University. It was felt that SSACN would carry more weight with sea anglers. Bundles of (200-400) post cards were sent to tackle shops around Scotland. Visits to tackle shops confirmed that they had been received. Some shops were actively encouraging anglers to take a card, whilst others were simply making them available. Similar sized bundles were also distributed to sea angling club secretaries and to charter boat proprietors. Contact with these confirmed that the postcards had been received and were being distributed, albeit with varying degrees of enthusiasm.
Additional publicity was sought through the questionnaire's URL being loaded onto websites and though general and specialist angling press. Both Sea Angler and Total Sea Angler carried editorial comment favourable and publicised the URL. The Glasgow Herald and the Scottish Sun also covered the appeal for anglers to complete the questionnaire.
4.2 Case Study Data Collection
The case studies were selected to reflect the diversity of sea angling activity and to explore particular themes and contemporary issues. We also sought to estimate rough magnitude of the economic activity supported by sea angling within these smaller geographical areas. One way of doing this is to estimate the total population of anglers (or angler days) and then to undertake on-site survey work, or to invite angler to complete questionnaires relating to their activity and expenditure within the case study area in question. Because of resource constraints and the demands of on-site interviewing a top-down approach was adopted. We focused our attention on the suppliers of angling services (tackle shops, charter vessels, self drive rentals, boat and outboard suppliers, hotels, B&B's, caravan parks, camp sites, self-catering accommodation). From previous studies and from the modeling of the 8 sea regions, there are known relationships between angler expenditure, direct, indirect, and induced effects and FTE's. Thus, if FTE's can be established, the relative magnitude of the other effects can be determined.
4.3 Stakeholder Interviews
The list of key personnel within the wider sea angling community was established through initial recommendations from the Scottish National Federation of Sea Anglers and the Scottish Angling Conservation Network. The list was then expanded on the recommendation of those initially contacted. The questionnaire used as a framework for each interview is given in the appendices
Details of charter operators were obtained from a variety of sources, including Scottish National Federation of Sea Anglers and the Scottish Angling Conservation Network and various websites. The Marine and Coastguard Agency ( MCA) is responsible for the coding of vessels taking paying passengers, but were not able to provide a complete list, as not all charter operators wish to be included in the MCA's database made available to the public. The MCA are reasonably confident that they have a high level of compliance, since coded operators who have incurred significant expenditure to satisfy coding requirements have a strong incentive to report on un-coded vessels. The charter questionnaire is given in the appendices
4.4 GIS Analysis
The creation of new geographies for analysis, in this case the Sea Regions and the Coastal/Inland split presents major problems in trying to identify the population (and other characteristics of an area such as coastline) of these geographies. Geographic Information Systems ( GIS) provide a set of tools to assist with these tasks. In this case we utilised the Arc- GIS software combined with data from the UKBorders map library and the Scottish Neighbourhood Statistics database. For presentation purposes maps were also obtained from the DigiMap Ordnance Survey map library hosted by Edina at Edinburgh University.
GIS methods can be very technical and complex and the following is simply an outline of some of the procedures.
1. For the 8 Sea Regions a map for the statistically based "Intermediate Zones" ( IZ) was loaded.
2. The land border of each Sea Region was "drawn" as a new feature and extended to cover any islands in the Region.
3. The Scottish Outline map (which shows the coastline) was added.
4. Data from Scottish Neighbourhood Satistics were added and "joined" to the IZ map.
5. The IZ's within each Sea Region were extracted and the population over 18 and 8-18 calculated.
6. The total length of coastline within each sea region was calculated.
7. A map of the post office regions (at the level XNN N ) was downloaded.
8. All coastal postcode areas (at the level XNN ) were identified by observation.
9. At case study level the Data Zone maps and population data were used.
10. The coastline of the case study area was drawn as a new feature (except for Orkney where the area was extracted from the Scottish Outline map)
11. A buffer zone was established at 1km and 5km from this coastline and the populations within the relevant data zones calculated.
12. The length of the coastline was calculated
4.5 Secondary Data Sources
4.5.0 UK Tourist Survey
The United Kingdom Tourism Survey ( UKTS) is a national consumer survey measuring the volume and value of tourism trips taken by residents of the United Kingdom. It is jointly sponsored by VisitBritain, VisitScotland, VisitWales and the Northern Ireland Tourist Board. The survey covers trips away from home lasting one night or more taken by UK residents for the purpose of holidays, visits to friends and relatives, business and conferences or any other purpose. Tourism is measured in terms of volume (trips taken, nights away) and value (expenditure on trips).
The target sample size is 100,000. Because of doubts in the reliability of the survey data being produced by the UKTS telephone survey, from 2005, a face-to-face survey instrument was used. Output from the survey is provided by the sponsors in the form of general and specific reports. VisitScotland kindly provided specific additional data on fishing, which is reported later. Unlike government surveys, the raw data set has not been made available to researchers.
4.5.1 Time Use Survey
The key objectives of the United Kingdom Time Use Survey ( TUS) were stated thus:
- to carry out a large-scale household survey featuring self-completion diaries to measure the amount of time spent by the UK population on various activities
- to ensure that the TUS provides data for government departments' academic research requirements
- to carry out the TUS in a European framework with design and administration along the lines of the Eurostat specification, and to provide results comparable, as far as possible, with those envisaged by them, but with modifications taking account of UK government and academic needs
- to deposit a documented dataset in an understandable and accessible format with the UKDA and the Office for National Statistics ( ONS), for analysis by academic and government users respectively
TUS(2000) is a multi-stage stratified covered of nearly 12,000 households. The way every individual both adult and child aged 8 and over, in the household used their time was identified. The main point of interest of this project was the angling participation rate of children compared to adults.
The main data collection instruments were a household questionnaire, individual questionnaire and self-completion diaries. Respondents were asked to complete two 24-hour diaries, which are broken down into ten minute slots. Topics covered in the questionnaires include employment, qualifications, care of dependants and children, leisure time activities and demographic details, such as age, gender, marital status, ethnicity and housing. Four data files are included in the dataset: diary, household, individual and worksheet files.
The original plan of a five yearly cycle was replaced in 2005 with a Time Use module in the government Omnibus survey. This module similarly measured how we choose to spend time, which has important implications for public policy, affecting, for example, employment, childcare, the labour market, health, provision of culture, education and transport. Critically, however, it only concerned the time use of those over 16.
The data set for TUS(2000) was extracted from the UK Data Archive as four SPSS files. The "household" and "individual" files were merged to allow the identification of Scottish adults and children and to identify the respective angling participation rates.
4.5.2 The TNS Fishing Report (2007)
The TNS fishing report was a vital source of data for establishing the numbers of sea anglers visiting from the UK. TNS surveyed a group of 1452 anglers consisting of 1010 respondents from a postal questionnaire (20% response rate), 92 on line enquirers to the VisitScotland (20% response rate) and 350 members of the VisitScotland activities panel. Of those surveyed, 905 (62%) had been sea angling in the last 2 years and of these 46% had been Sea-Angling. This proportion is the key in taking the UKTS estimate of fishing trips and providing an estimate of sea angling trips.
The data in the TNS study also provides information on the number of trips per angler. This can also be obtained from the Internet Survey. However the Internet figures were expected to be biased upwards so the TNS data was used to identify the number of sea anglers. However the trip length (days per trip) for RUK visitors from the internet survey is unlikely to be biased and this gives a direct estimate of the angler days by RUK visitors. A check of the days per angler resulting from these two methods provides confirmation that the estimates were of the right order.