The growing case for fishing apps as a viable (and exciting!) source of data

Speaker: Dr. Paul Venturelli, Associate Professor of Fisheries, Ball State University

Fisheries science and management require data that are often difficult or impossible to collect at broad spatial and temporal scales. The ubiquity of both anglers and mobile devices is stimulating interest in angler self-reporting as a cheap alternative. In this presentation, Dr. Venturelli combines lessons learned from decades of angler diaries and fishing logbooks with a small but growing body of literature on the extent to which data from angler apps can inform fisheries management. Although there are valid concerns about the type and quality of data that can be obtained through citizen science (e.g., that it represents a non-probabilistic sample), it appears that self-reporting can generate usable fisheries data. He will conclude by describing two novel applications of these data: one into the spread of invasive species, and another into the response of freshwater game fishes to climate change.