The 2025 Environmental Perceptions Survey provides unique insight into a nationally representative sample ( n = 1024) of New Zealanders’ perceptions of freshwater fish. About 8% of the sample had fished in the past 12 months and 30% had fished ever, and fisher subsamples were more male, more Māori and younger than the New Zealand population. Perceived awareness of local freshwater fish presence was higher for fishers than non‐...