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<p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center"><b><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">American Seafood Harvesters Marketing Practices Survey</span></b><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif"><br>
<b>Your response is greatly appreciated.</b> We are writing to ask for your help with a short questionnaire about the ways seafood harvesters in America sell their catch. We, Dr. Sahir Advani and Asst. Prof. Joshua Stoll, are researchers at the School of Marine
Sciences, University of Maine. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">Your responses will be used to inform a national survey about seafood marketing practices being developed by the University of Maine, U.S. Department of Agriculture, and National Marine Fisheries
Service. The purpose of the survey is to bring greater visibility to the important role that the commercial fishing sector plays in supporting the nation’s food system. While USDA has been monitoring agricultural marketing practices by farmers for decades,
this information does not currently exist for commercial fisheries. This information can help decision-makers develop initiatives to strengthen the nation’s domestic seafood economy. The findings from this survey could also highlight the important role of
direct seafood sales to Rhode Island’s seafood sector.<br>
<br>
<b>What are you being asked to do?</b> If you decide to participate in this survey, you can access the survey using the link below. It will take 5 minutes to fill out the survey. You will be asked to share your contact information, but this is voluntary. You
must be 18 years or older to participate. You may be contacted for another survey in January 2023, based on your response. Additional details about what your participation entails are provided at the bottom of this email.<br>
<br>
Link to survey: <a href="https://urldefense.com/v3/__https:/umaine.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_5oullmgoyAX4BJs__;!!KKphUJtCzQ!Ld-tmulHMn7t2043yXQvcNEYaB6P_XiVieOC-2MwMRFE-LTGDSjoU0Baph5Ec3sqor0wY5lNBDOqSHLIYEO7CcLilNGD_JAC$">
https://umaine.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_5oullmgoyAX4BJs [umaine.qualtrics.com]</a><br>
<br>
<b>Details about your participation and how to contact us:</b><br>
<b>Risks:</b> Except for your time and inconvenience, there are no risks to you from participating in this study.
<br>
<b>Benefits:</b> While there are no direct and immediate benefits to you from participating in this survey, the findings from this survey can bring additional attention to the direct seafood marketing sector in Rhode Island and nationally, the issues it faces,
and highlight the sectors’ contributions to the US economy and coastal livelihoods.<br>
<b>Confidentiality:</b> Your response to the survey will be kept confidential. All data will be maintained securely on password-protected systems at the University of Maine. The survey data and contact information you might provide will be deleted by January
2026.<br>
<b>Voluntary:</b> Participation is voluntary. If you choose to respond, you may stop at any time. You may skip questions you do not wish to answer.<br>
<br>
<b>Contact Information:</b> For more details about the survey, please refer to this website:
<a href="https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://umaine.edu/marine/seafood-marketing-survey/*20*5bumaine.edu*5d__;JSUl!!KKphUJtCzQ!MwuiC4qGwmGQQazdrId19o1yFBqLH_9z81VEUxaZ3RdFJYjHGNXd0q8vxDi6yHM5UkIJPUfau-IH8gQgXDeikZmSoNeyiVolbYNnqwxKxA$">
https://umaine.edu/marine/seafood-marketing-survey/ [umaine.edu] [umaine.edu]</a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center"><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">If you have any questions about this survey please contact Dr. Sahir Advani at
<a href="mailto:sahir.advani@maine.edu">sahir.advani@maine.edu</a> or +1-778-223-6647. You may also reach Assistant Professor Joshua Stoll at
<a href="mailto:joshua.stoll@maine.edu">joshua.stoll@maine.edu</a>. If you have any questions about your rights as a research participant, please contact the Office of Research Compliance, University of Maine, 207-581-2657 (or e-mail
<a href="mailto:umric@maine.edu">umric@maine.edu</a>).<br>
<br>
We really appreciate your help with this survey. </span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">Sincerely,</span><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">Joshua Stoll</span><o:p></o:p></p>
</td>
<td width="188" style="width:141.0pt;padding:0in 0in 0in 0in">
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">Sahir Advani</span><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">Assistant Professor,</span><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">Postdoctoral Researcher,
</span><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">University of Maine</span><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">University of Maine</span><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="display:none"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;color:black">~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><i><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black">You are receiving this notice from the RIDEM Division of Marine Fisheries (rimarinefisheries listserve).
<b><u>This is an automated message system; please do not reply to this email</u>.</b><o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><i><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black">To subscribe to this mailing list, send email to
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<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><i><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black">If you have trouble unsubscribing, send email to <</span><a href="mailto:rimarinefisheries-owner@listserve.ri.gov"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:blue">rimarinefisheries-owner@listserve.ri.gov</span></a></i><i><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black">>.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><i><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">To subscribe to notifications for rules and regulations noticed with Sec. of State, go
</span></i><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif"><a href="https://rules.sos.ri.gov/subscriptions/subscribe/all"><i><span style="color:blue">here</span></i></a><i>. For meeting notifications filed with Sec. of State, go
</i><a href="https://opengov.sos.ri.gov/OpenMeetings"><i><span style="color:blue">here</span></i></a><i>.<span style="color:black"><o:p></o:p></span></i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
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