Results of a Survey of CO Warmwater Anglers Residing in Delta, Garfield, Mesa and Montrose Counties

• Description: Colorado River Basin Threatened and Endangered Species UCRBRIP
• State: CO
• Date: 4/1/1996
• Author: Colorado Division of Wildlife, Standage Market Research, Inc.
• Title: Results of a Survey of CO Warmwater Anglers Residing in Delta, Garfield, Mesa and Montrose Counties
• Water Supply Pro - Doc Type: Report/Study

I•
Results of a Survey of Colorado Warmwater Anglers Residing in
Delta, Garfield, Mesa and Montrose Counties
Introduction
As part of the analysis relating to the development of stocking procedures for non-
native species in the upper Colorado River Basin, The Colorado Division of Wildlife
(CDOW) felt there was a need for up -to -date information on preferences of west slope
anglers who warmwater fish, as well as a need for information on their understanding
of the proposed pond reclamation effort to help recover endangered fishes of the
Colorado River. Therefore, in conjunction with Standage Market Research of Denver,
Colorado, CDOW designed a survey which was conducted by Standage Market
• Research. The survey queried anglers who indicated that they had fished for
warmwater fish species in the past 12 months, basically the 1995 fishing season.
Warmwater species are generally defined as bass, bluegill, channel catfish, yellow
perch, northern pike, tiger musky, sunfish, crappie or similar species.
• Methodoloay
The survey instrument was developed and finalized cooperatively by Standage Market
Research and the CDOW. Standage Market Research was provided with a randomly
selected list of anglers from the CDOW 1995 license sales data base with pre-
, • determined telephone prefixes that represented the telephone prefixes common to
Delta, Garfield, Mesa and Montrose counties. Standage Market Research conducted
telephone interviews during the month of January, 1996. Anglers were queried as
to whether or not they had fished for warmwater species in Colorado in 1995. If the
anglers indicated they had not fished for warmwater species, the interview was
terminated. If they reported fishing for warmwater species 1 day or more, the
• interview continued.
This report details the results of surveying 300 anglers who indicated they had fished
for warmwater species in Colorado during 1995. 667 contacts were made to
complete the 300 surveys, yielding a 45% response rate. The results are statistically
valid at the ± 5.7% accuracy level.
The survey instrument is shown in Appendix I.
Results
Results of the survey are depicted in two parts. The first part deals with angler
preferences, the second deals with their response to the pond reclamation project.
1
I0