Fangstjournalen is a citizen science
project for anglers, i.e. recreational fishers using reel and rod. The system
collects data when anglers report information from their fishing trips including
their catches of fish.
When reporting a fishing trip anglers provide
information about fishing location, hours fished, target fish species as well
as information about catches i.e. species, length or weight, fate (released or
harvested), and gear used. We also collect other species-specific data about fish catches, e.g parasites, tags, gender, maturity and much more. Anglers are
encouraged to report blank trips, which allow calculations of Catch-Per-Unit-Effort estimates
which we use to compare densities of fish between years and fishing sites.
Data
is being collected via an electronic platform including a browser version and a
smartphone app (for android and iPhone).
Anglers can also report a range of
different observations that they make make during their fishing trip, e.g. presence
of large marine mammals, tuna, invasive species and more. Additional entries
for observations can be made in the backend of the system, e.g. as part of
collaboration projects with other researchers who wish to engage anglers in their
citizen science data collection.
Upon registration participants are encouraged to fill out entries that support with information about demographics (postal code, gender, age) and angling characteristics (e.g. experience, preferred fishing types, importance of angling as a hobby). This information combined with GPS of fishing sites can provide information about travel patterns. See CSV file for more information about data that is being collected.
Data is not shared directly due to content of personal information, but contact Christian Skov, ck@aqua.dtu.dk
The project is primarily funded by the Danish Rod and Net Fish License funds.The project have also received funding from "UDlodningsmidler", the European Commission’s Data Collection Framework (DCF) and the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF) and The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark via the project “Affairs of Denmark Recreational fisheries-screening and historic data (REFISH)”.