Fisheries Professional's Attitudes and Views on Walleye-Bass Interactions

Fisheries biologists’ attitudes and views on issues, while primarily based in science, may influence management decisions.  Yet, few studies focus on understanding the attitudes of those professionals who work within these issues.  We assessed fisheries biologists’ attitudes on the interactions and management of walleye and smallmouth and largemouth bass in summer and fall 2015 using a 16-question survey.  A total of 207 respondents completed either the printed or online survey (overall completion rate of 80%).  Preliminary results show that 48 and 34% of biologists believe that smallmouth bass have a neutral or slightly negative impact on walleye populations, and 54 and 29% believe largemouth bass have a neutral or slightly negative impact on walleye.  Twenty-nine percent of biologists believed that walleye-black bass interactions are mostly social in nature rather than biological, and 27% believed these issues were moderately more social in nature rather than biological.  Overall, 48% of respondents believed that walleye-black bass issues were slightly more important compared to other fisheries issues in their respective states.  Future analyses will examine attitude differences between states, education, and career longevity factors.