Surveys were conducted using semi–structured questionnaires that facilitated the collection of additional information such as comments from respondents. The questions were in Japanese. To test the clarity of the questionnaires, we conducted pilot surveys of 20 people (10 from each study area) with various occupations including fishers, FCAs and city halls' workers, and other locals during March 2014. The pilot questionnaires had 62 questions categorized into four sections, namely fisheries operation history, occupation and income, alternative economic activities to fisheries, and sustainability. Information on respondents' age, gender, and family size were not included in the 62 pre–mentioned questions.
The final questionnaires were restructured, and the number of questions was reduced to 40. Additionally, for multiple–response questions, we asked respondents to indicate main and minor options. The answers to job satisfaction and likelihood to look for other occupations questions ranged on a 1–to–5 scale from ‘extremely dissatisfied’ to ‘extremely satisfied’ and ‘extremely unlikely’ to ‘extremely likely’, respectively.