Wordplay aside, a pilot program being used by charter-boat captains to collect data on their summer flounder, or fluke, catch, may be pointing the way to a more accurate assessment of fisheries and thus a healthier fishing industry.
The technology came about because during a fishing trip in Rhode Island, a software developer from Pennsylvania saw the captain writing down the details of his catch. A light bulb went off, and it didn’t take long to design a program that captured the data electronically that the captain needed to report to the state and the Northeast Regional Oceans Council.
A win in a business-plan competition later, and the company, HarborLight Software, had a recreational-catch-share pilot program, which now is being tested thanks to an $86,200 National Fish and Wildlife Foundation grant awarded to the Rhode Island Party and Charter Boat Association.
Ten boat captains are using tablets to enter the data, which is then relayed to the necessary parties. The accuracy of the data allows the captains to land more fish while giving GPS locations for what is being landed, a win for those chartering the boats and for officials trying to understand what is going on beneath the waves.
The pilot program goes through the end of the year, but it’s difficult to imagine that we won’t soon be seeing more such technology being used.