Hey r/bassfishing,
I know survey posts aren't always well-received here, and I posted about this before (see my profile for history). But this research is extremely important, and I'm asking for a few minutes of your time.
I'm a PhD researcher at UMass studying freshwater conservation. I've been running a large survey on freshwater fisheries threats and conservation solutions across the US and Canada. Nearly 2,000 responses so far – sounds great, right?
Except 60% are fly anglers (mostly trout-focused) and only 15-20% are bass anglers.
Why this matters: When state agencies and fisheries managers decide where to spend conservation money, what habitats to protect, and what environmental issues to prioritize, they rely on research like this. If bass anglers aren't represented in the data, warmwater fisheries don't get the attention they deserve.
Bass fishing is literally the most popular freshwater sport in America, yet our voices are barely showing up in the research that influences policy.
The ask: Take my survey (10-15 minutes). It examines how different environmental threats interact and which conservation solutions you think actually work. You can enter a raffle for fishing gear as a thank you.
Survey link: https://umassamherst.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_d5Od8inHHbEMWnI
Help me make sure bass angler perspectives actually reach the people making decisions about the waters we fish.
Thanks for your time,
Evan
Posted by shakenbake705
4 Comments
Did you post this on /r/fishing too?
As a fellow academic, I’d work on these questions. The scales don’t really work and are even confusing for me whether I should be selecting increase or decrease. I closed out because I wasn’t sure what I was actually saying and don’t want to skew results.
This is important and appreciated
What stands out to me is the channel catfish. That seems shockingly low to me, especially being beneath carp. I would’ve assumed catfishing would be way more popular, I wonder if that is underrepresented too.