The future of the sea and the life within it has been in the headlines in the past few months. Many people make their living from the sea, while many more visit the coast and the sea for pleasure, a part of which is angling. As government agencies and those who manage the coast are considering how best to develop ways to protect and enhance life in the sea, they are interested in the ideas and experiences of sea anglers.
To help with the process, Defra has commissioned CCRI, to carry out research finding out more about sea anglers, their ideas and backgrounds.
The CCRI is launching an online survey to gather information about anglers and is interested in hearing from all of those who enjoy sea angling, from those with years of experience through to those who are just beginning.
The project leader Dr Matt Reed said: “One of the most exciting things about sea angling is that it is diverse and open access. People go sea angling in different ways, on the beach or from a boat, but they also use a wide range of gear and techniques. We are interested in hearing about that diversity, and we created a really short questionnaire to capture that, taking only 15 minutes to complete. We all know that fish and the marine environment face a lot of challenges, plastic pollution, global warming – and that sea anglers care a great deal about those problems.
Those people who help us out will be making a valuable contribution to understanding more about sea anglers, and how in turn government bodies can best engage with them. One of the reasons for an online survey is that we know that sea anglers go out at different
times of day, in often remote marks or out to sea when the time and tide suits them on boats. Then even if we could find them, we would be interrupting their fishing time. An online survey means that people can help us out at a time of their choosing and we don’t get in the way of their fishing time. As a bit of added fun we have added a prize draw element, if you complete the survey you can put your name into a draw for a £20 high street voucher, and we have five vouchers to give away”.
You can access the survey here – https://glos.onlinesurveys.ac.uk/seaangling
