FishSizeProject is developed for anglers, divers and everyone who likes observing fish. You will create a log and gallery of your entries and will contribute to important research. FishSizeProject app was developed by scientists at the Nature Reserach Centre. The app is free, your data will never be used for commercial purposes and we will never reveal your secret fishing spots. Here you can learn more about the data use and privacy.
How does it work?
After creating your account you can register your current or past catches or observations, as long as you have the photos. Once the photo is uploaded the location information (if available with the photo) will be updated automatically. All observations recorded after the January 2021 will also be linked to the weather information at the time and place of the trip. The user catch statistics page will be updated based on the user preferences. All users who will log at least 30 trips by the end of 2022 will be able to receive a private trip and catch or observation summary with a range of plots and statistics.
How will your data help research?
1. When you register your fishing trip, you can indicate quantity, species and sizes of your catch, at least approximately. Using this info we can asses average catches per trip, compare them across different locations and through time.
2. The fish size information is especially important. All anglers know that healthy fish population will have lots of big fish. This means that registered fish sizes can inform us about the population status. Scientific surveys are done only in a small fraction of lakes and rivers and they do not always sample the largest fish accurately. But anglers do catch them and could provide very useful information.
3. By registering new or strange fish species you can alert scientists about potentially invasive species and collect data about climate change driven fish redistributions.
4. If you notice strange fish behaviour or appearance, you can take a photo, describe it and share on the app. This way new information will faster reach the specialists. You can also record fish kills or other observations.
5. Scientists at the Nature Research Centre are working on machine learning algorithms for fish species and size identification. Such algorithms could greatly improve data collection in Lithuania and worldwide. By uploading photos of your catch or observations you will help to collect data to train these algorithms.
How much data do we need to say something about fish population status?
We do not really know, because angler driven citizen science is very new. To detect invasive species or new fish diseases, one reliable entry is enough. For analyses of fish size data we may need 20-50 entries per location and species. As we collect FishSizeProject data, we will be comparing it with scientific observations and learning more. So by using FishSizeProject you can contribute to the cutting-edge research.
