Those with a love for fishing may be able to help out conservationists while taking part in their favorite pastime. The US federal government has recently backed plans to develop a new fishing app—completely free and available for download on both Android and iOS devices—that scientists hope anglers will use to help collect data for endangered species across the nation.
The Dual Purpose New Fishing App
The US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) has recently teamed up with Fishbrain, a social media network for fishermen, with the hopes of creating an app where anglers can log information regarding any endangered species they encounter. Using Fishbrain, users would be able to record up to fifty endangered species per fishing trip, which may aid conservationists in determining where the threatened populations of animals live.
Additionally, the new fishing app will be able to help out anglers worried by environmental factors including unruly weather and poor water quality. Fishbrain will be able to provide this data to both fishermen and conservationists, helping better inform anglers on where the safest places to fish are, while providing researchers with key information that would help them determine the cause for the declining populations of endangered species.
A Fishy Social Media Platform
But the new fishing app is so much more than just a conservationist’s aid. The Fishbrain app is also an entirely new social media platform, tailored to optimize fishing trips for anglers across the country. For starters, the fishing app provides vital information automatically to the user, such as weather, tide levels, and air and water temperature—factors that could drastically alter the success of your fishing trip.
Do you hate having to spend hours fishing in order to realize you’re not in the best place for reeling em’ in? Now you won’t have to. One of the Fishbrain app’s key features includes the ability to see where other anglers are fishing for and where–and how well they’re doing. Like-minded fishermen can use this app to determine where the best fishing spots are, without having to go through the trouble of finding out the hard way.
Fishbrain will also analyze data already recorded by other anglers in order to tell you how to catch more fish. Details such as what the most effective type of bait to use in a specific body of water has been in, and what weather conditions are the most suitable for catching your favorite type of fish, will also be available.
More than Just a Fishing App
The USWFS has partnered up with Fishbrain in order to help animals listed under the Endangered Species Act. The bill not only promotes the well-being of different types of fish, but also encompasses birds, mammals, insects and reptiles.
This being the case, those with the new fishing app are encouraged not only to record any sightings of endangered fish, but also of any creatures protected under the Endangered Species Act. The USFWS Environmental Conservation Development team made a list that comes pre-installed on the app of all possible endangered species you might find on your trip, and includes extensive information about the different species, including their behavior, preferred bait, and the likeliness of finding them based on environmental variables. The list also includes species that are expected to one day become endangered species, due to their rapidly declining populations.
Conservationists hope that the data logged by the users of Fishbrain will help efforts to restore the populations of endangered species. The fishing app already has over 750,000 downloads—a good sign for researchers and anglers worldwide.
You can download the free app for yourself here to start helping conservationists worldwide—and catch more fish while doing it!
