The Angler Action Foundation (AAF) and the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council (SAFMC) will co-host a webinar focused on electronic self-reporting through the free smartphone app MyFishCount.
The purpose of the webinar will be to refresh anglers on the importance of self-reporting through the MyFishCount system, and then demonstrate how to create a profile and enter your catches. Demonstrations will include how to report “quick log” trips, which should take around one minute for the whole trip as well as more detailed logs. The webinar will be hosted by Brett Fitzgerald, Executive Director of AAF, and Dr. Chip Collier, SAFMC fisheries biologist.
“MyFishCount is a free app that allows anglers to not only build a personal fishing journal, but it also brings them into the fold of better fishery management and science,” said AAF chairman Mike Readling.
In fact, those are the primary reason anglers elect to participate in the program. Most who do, says Readling, are helping themselves and our fish populations.
“We’ve all said we wish we had kept a journal at some point in our fishing lives. MyFishCount makes it easy to do just that," Readling said.
The MyFishCount system allows anglers to log in to their password-protected accounts and sift through their fishing trips. This allows them to easily visualize their personal patterns of catch rates, which means they can better plan and prepare based on their own successes and failures. “This is one feature that really excites a lot of anglers. There are plenty other platforms that ask for personal fishing data for the purpose of sharing with other app users – not this one though. The more you log, the more you'll learn and benefit, and your details are protected from the view of other anglers.”
The other purpose of the app is to build a better understanding of our fisheries so managers can make regulation decisions with the additional information provided directly by anglers. Dr. Collier feels the information provided through MyFishCount is a benefit to managers and scientists. “This information allows us to learn much more detail about what anglers are actually doing and seeing on the water. This is particularly true with the fish that anglers let go.”
Dr. Collier is referring to information such as the size of released fish, the estimated depth, whether the fish was targeted, and more. All of these fields are easy and quick to enter into the MyFishCount app or website.
After participating in this webinar, anglers will have a better understanding about why the data is important and exactly how to log their information into the app or associated website, www.myfishcount.com. Anglers will be allowed to participate in a live Q&A session at the end of the demonstrations.
There will be two webinar opportunities. One will take place Monday, April 29 at 6PM, the second will be Thursday May 3 at 6PM. Links to register are below:
Monday night
https://register.gotowebinar.com/register/3182069512499841292
Thursday night
https://register.gotowebinar.com/register/8839700051709650956