MONTPELIER — A questionnaire will be mailed on Jan. 6 to some Vermont anglers asking for information about their fishing activities, as well as their interests and opinions on fishing and fisheries management in Vermont.
The survey is directed and funded by the Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department and is being carried out under contract by Responsive Management, a survey research firm specializing in attitudes toward natural resource and outdoor recreation issues. The survey will be mailed to 4,500 resident and 900 nonresident anglers who have been randomly selected from Vermont’s 2019 fishing license records.
The resulting information will be used to help inform the Fish and Wildlife Department about general trends in angler opinions and activities. Anglers’ identities will be kept confidential and answers will never be associated with their names.
“The information from the survey will be very important in our efforts to manage Vermont’s diverse fisheries resources to meet the desires of our angling community,” said Eric Palmer, Fish and Wildlife’s director of fisheries. “This survey will also compliment those conducted in 1991, 2000 and 2010, providing us with a good picture of trends in angler activities and desires over the past 30 years.”
The questionnaire is an 8.5- x 5.5-inch light blue booklet and includes 14 pages of questions. It will come in a white envelope with “Vermont Angler Survey Enclosed” printed on the front.
“While the questionnaire may seem a bit long, it is divided into sections, so anglers will only need to fill out those sections that reflect their fishing habits. If you don’t fish for trout, you don’t fill out the trout section,” explained Palmer. “While this is a voluntary survey, we encourage all anglers who receive them to take the time to fill them out, even if you do not fish very often. The more responses we receive, the better the survey will reflect Vermont’s angling community.”
If you receive a survey and have any questions, please contact Fisheries Biologist Bret Ladago at (802) 485-7566 or [email protected].