The third biennial survey of people’s perceptions of the state of the New Zealand environment was undertaken in February - March 2004. The survey was based on the Pressure-State-Response (PSR) model of state of the environment reporting. It tested New Zealanders’ perceptions of all the main resource areas and in 2004 also looked more specifically at freshwater and freshwater fishery issues. Two thousand people, aged 18 and over, were randomly selected from the New Zealand electoral roll. An effective response rate of 43% was achieved. Data have been analysed descriptively and the 2004 survey responses were compared with responses from the 2000 and 2002 surveys. Statistical analyses of the responses were completed to determine the roles of several demographic variables.