That data has to be scewed by region. Over half the population can't swim well enough to save themselves from a current. If I asked 10 people in my life when they fished last, 9 of them would say not in the last 10 years. Likely 10 of them would say they have never used a fishing net. A rod and reel is all you ever normally see.

There are people who fish all the time, and there are people who have never seen the ocean or an actual large lake. Many of the people I meet have never been on a boat.

I lived in Panama City Beach for 5.5 years and went fishing once, and never with a rod or nets. We went flounder gigging, so just a spear really.