Mackerel, pollack, dogfish, seabass and whiting were the most-widely caught fish species by Ireland’s 250,000 sea anglers in 2022, according to new data from Inland Fisheries Ireland (IFI).

The results are taken from IFI’s Irish Marine Recreational Angling Survey (IMREC) app, which enables anglers to log their catch details on their phones as they fish.

Other data revealed by Irish shore and boat anglers — fishing along more than 3,000km of coastline — during 2022, reveals that:

• Counties Cork, Clare, Donegal, Kerry and Wexford were hotspots for marine angling;
• During 2022 anglers spent an average of 42 hours each, fishing by the/at sea;
• An average of just over 80 fish were caught by recreational fishermen/women annually;
• During a single trip anglers caught more than six fish;
• Catch and release rates were over 80%;
• Approximately six different species were caught per angler annually.

Flounder, poor cod, dab, ballan wrasse and smooth hound were also among the top 10 most-caught fish species brought ashore around Ireland’s coasts last year.

A survey of 1,200 sea anglers by IFI in 2021 showed that more than 90% of respondents said they primarily fished to relax and unwind, and be in the outdoors.

In addition, they reported spending an average of €100 per fishing trip on food and drink, transport and bait.

They paid a further €970 annually on items such as rods, reels and clothing, and on fishing and boating expenses.

Sea anglers of any experience are invited to sign up to the IFI IMREC app, and a explanatory how-to video guide to IMREC is also available.

Commenting on the 2022 figures, Dr Diarmuid Ryan, research officer with IFI said: “We are very keen for more anglers in this community to sign up to our anonymous, free and easy-to-use app.

“Recreational anglers can become citizen scientists by recording information from their own fishing sessions.

“The app provides invaluable intelligence, in the form of pooled and anonymised information, that feeds into a broader European project that monitors marine fish stocks.

“IFI recognises anglers as critical stakeholders that effectively act as environmental stewards in helping to maintain Ireland’s rich marine life resources.”

Hobby fishermen/women who use the online diary tool can easily log their trips; attach photos of their catches; record details such as tide, weather and bait used; and look back over previous sessions on their own interactive map.

The IMREC app is not available via Google Play or Apple App Store but is a web-based app that is accessed through a web browser.

Earlier this week, IFI revealed that a record percentage of wild salmon were placed back in the water after being hooked by fishermen/women in 2022, as reported on Afloat.ie.

More has been shared about plans to attract Ireland’s community of up to 250,000 recreational sea anglers to take part in a large-scale citizen science project and play an active role in helping to conserve marine fish stocks.
 
Leading geographic information systems company Esri Ireland recently announced that its digital mapping system is being used by Inland Fisheries Ireland (FI) to help safeguard fish populations and protect marine ecosystems, as previously reported on Afloat.ie.
 
Esri’s ArcGIS system supports the Irish Marine Recreational Angling Survey (IMREC) which aims to estimate sea anglers’ catches along the 3,000km of Irish coastline.

Whether they are shore anglers, small boat anglers or charter boat anglers, each member can sign up to access Esri’s Survey123 web-based app where they can record their catches and angling successes with a personalised dashboard.
 
IFI is the State agency for protecting, managing and conserving inland fisheries and sea angling resources. To meet its EU data collection requirements around species, locations, and volumes of fish caught annually in European waters, IFI saw a need for a collaborative approach to collate its own data with self-reporting by recreational sea anglers.
 
Turning anglers into citizen scientists, the easy-to-use app enables anglers around Ireland to gather and upload real-time information from any device about the fish they catch and release.

This anonymised information is then automatically transferred to a shared repository, where it can be easily viewed by the anglers and monitored by IFI to identify patterns in the species distribution, volumes and weight of fish caught, and estimated catch rates. In turn, IFI has greater control over and confidence in the accuracy and consistency of the data collected.

The EU is particularly interested in data on cod, pollock, sharks, rays, sea bass and highly migratory species such as tuna, but the solution can be configured to capture data on other species too.
 
Sea anglers of all experience levels can sign up via the IFI website, and can also watch a quick and easy video guide on how to use the app on YouTube.

September is one of the busiest periods for sea angling around the Irish coast, so it’s a great time to start recording your catch, according to William Roche, a senior research officer at IFI.
 
“With more anglers collecting data, we will be able to build up a better picture of the state of fish stocks off Ireland’s coast,” he said. “ArcGIS will enable us to work with anglers as citizen scientists and crowdsource the large volume of data that we require for EU and national reporting.

“The personalised dashboards will help to make the recording of data a habitual activity for anglers, and we hope they will enjoy entering their catch data and take pride in their roles as stewards of the sea.”
 
Schalk Van Lill, customer success manager with Esri Ireland added: “We are delighted to work with Inland Fisheries Ireland on this project and enable the ongoing monitoring and safeguarding of fish populations.

“Citizen science like this provides broad spatial coverage all around the coastline of Ireland, enabling Inland Fisheries Ireland to efficiently comply with requirements. The solution can be easily scaled up to accept data uploads from more and more participants, allowing Inland Fisheries Ireland to expand the scheme over time.”

Inland Fisheries Ireland (IFI) is encouraging sea anglers to become citizen scientists as part of a project to gather key data for the protection of fish species and habitats around Ireland.

As TechCentral reports, IFI is using ESRI Ireland’s ArcGIS digital mapping system for the Irish Marine Recreational Angling Survey (IMREC), which has been previously highlighted on Afloat.ie.

It’s hoped to harness some of Ireland’s 250,000 recreational sea anglers to report real-time data on the fish they catch and release, via the Survey123 smartphone app — much in the same way as skippers’ participation in the Tuna CHART survey.

William Roche, a senior research officer at IFI said: “ArcGIS will enable us to recruit anglers as citizen scientists and crowdsource the large volume of data that we require for EU and national reporting.

“With more anglers collecting data, we will be able to build up a better picture of the state of fish stocks off Ireland’s coast, particularly for anglers.”

TechCentral has more on the story HERE.

Inland Fisheries Ireland (IFI) is looking for recreational sea anglers to take part in a citizen science project to help understand the health of fish stocks in Irish coastal waters.

By providing catch information, anglers can play their role in the in the long-term conservation and sustainability of the resource for future generations.

IFI says it’s seeking shore, small boat or charter anglers to collect and submit information on their sea fishing trips and catches around the coastline and submit it via an online diary for the Irish Marine Recreational Angling (IMREC) project.

The IMREC project aims to answer three main questions about sea angling:

• How many people in Ireland fish?
• How often do they fish?
• What do they catch?

IFI along with ESRIs ArcGIS Hub have developed a free angling diary that allows you to create an account and easily submit angling sessions on your phone or other device, providing information which will contribute to the evaluation of our marine fish stocks.

The application also creates a handy personal diary dashboard for your own use and each logged diary session will be updated here.

This gives users an opportunity to view when, where and what fish you’ve caught along with any other notes (tides, rigs etc) that you may have submitted. A summary is also provided to give you an insight into how your season is progressing.

An angling bundle (including buff, line clippers and tape) will be sent to the first 20 anglers that sign up, and a €50 tackle voucher prize draw will be held every month for active users of the diary application.

The survey team at IFI say they understand the importance of fishing marks to anglers. For this reason, your sessions will only be visible to you and the IMREC survey team.

If you are interested, the IMREC initiative is now live and can be viewed here. To take part, sign up on the web or send your name and email to [email protected] with the subject line “IMREC Diary Sign Up”.

A full FAQ along with further information on the project can be found on the IMREC website. Any further queries may be directed to [email protected].