I thought I’d do a separate thread for the results so folks could easily see it wasn’t me bumping the live survey thread again.
Alright, so…:
Question #1 was “In regards to saltwater fishing from a boat, do you fish out of Charleston County?” 125 of 145 said yes. So 125 so far were valid.
Question #2 “How large is your boat?” The average was 21.3. When looking at the raw data, the vast majority was between 17 and 22 feet. This is significant to me because a lot of those boats I’m assuming are a single-engines (which I know a lot of 20 footers with a single outboard still make the trek 45+ miles in the spring for mahi and pray it stays 2ft or less… that’s all just my thinking though).
Question #3 “Approximately how many trips out of Charleston County do you make a year?” The average was 32 and it really did seem to balance out but then again there were a few larger numbers (most likely charter boat captains) so if I took any answers out of the equation that were over 65 then the average was 22 trips.
Question #4 “How often do you fish a nearshore reef off of Charleston County per year?” The average was 6.6. Actually more than I’d expect given the number of nearshore reefs.
Question #5 which really was four questions:
“What is the farthest you feel you would fish an offshore reef on a / day with:-1 ft or less seas?” The vast majority went 21+ miles out
“What is the farthest you feel you would fish an offshore reef on a / day with:-2 ft seas?” 0 to 5 miles & then 6 to 10 miles split the majority of the answers
“What is the farthest you feel you would fish an offshore reef on a / day with:-3 ft seas?” most said 0 to 5 with a decent amount of 6 to 10 miles
“What is the farthest you feel you would fish an offshore reef on a / day with:-4 ft seas?” Nearly everyone but about 15-20 people said 0 to 5 miles
Question #6 “Would you fish offshore more often if there were more nearshore reefs?” 93 answered yes. I’m assuming that those that answered no either already fished them enough,
"Question #10 “Would you be willing to pay a higher SCDNR Saltwater Fishing annual license fee in order to add nearshor reefs?” 105 said yes (I think that’d be awesome if that’d happen and the extra money went ONLY to SCDNR)
Question #11 “If you answered Yes to Question 10, how much more would you be willing to pay per annual SCDNR Saltwater Fishing license fee?” The results of this question blew me away… I didn’t even want to put this question or the one before it in my survey but my professor insisted which I’m glad. The average was $16.84. I thought half of the people would first say no to #10 and then in #11 maybe add a buck but I’m amazed of the average. Plus since it was qualitative that most didn’t misunderstand and put a total license cost but actually meant ADDITIONAL money on top of the current fee."
Specifically, you wrote: “I think that’d be awesome if that’d happen and the extra money went ONLY to SCDNR.” Most people are willing to pay to improve our resources, but nobody wants the government bureaucracy and waste that will inevitably come with creating more revenue for SCDNR. For the past three years or so, I have had, and still do, have very, very little faith in any government–local, county, state, or the federal level. Too much rotten going on to give any them more money right now because most of them are morally bankrupt. When the moral compass gets fixed, perhaps, higher cost for license is a great idea for improving our resources.
2012 Skeeter ZX22 Bay
Yamaha 250 hp SHO
Minnkota Riptide 101
Thank you for your time and effort in conducting the survey. It’s nice to get ■■■■■■■■ from actual fisherman rather than scientists, politicians and/or tree-huggers who have predetermined agendas. Good job, bud.
“I’m not a hundred percent in love with your tone right now…”
Thanks for sharing your information. A bit of (unsolicited) advice from someone who deals with a few fisheries surveys. Calculate your standard deviation (±) for your results. The higher the standard deviation, the less useful an average is and the more variable the data. As you mentioned, a few really high or low answers can really change your average. Occasionally, it’s best to report the median response, as that takes away the chance of a few really few high responses from biasing the gist of your data. For example, if the results of a question were 2,2,2,2,2 2,20-the average would be 4.6 but the median (2) would tell you more about the responses. Sorry for nerding out; sometimes I can’t help myself. Good luck with your project.
And by the way, I think it’s awesome that you are doing this project. I fish on artificial reefs all the time and everyone I know would like to see many more off the coast of SC.
jtsnake, thanks! I just thought that if I whipped out std. deviation on here then folks may click off it plus I had to type as quick as possible since the kiddos were killing me that night! but you’re spot on. also, I did it hastily without my original tallied results and so I took the raw data and threw it into an excel sheet but left filters on at times by accident (which, without the wrong filters on at times on that sheet then the data is even stronger).
well I’ve heard back from SCDNR and feels good to hear they liked it. they always have an uphill battle raising any fee on the license but loved seeing that most of us would support it if it stuck with them and was used appropriately. great people there and I’ve always thought this state has the best DNR of any state I’ve lived in.