Angler Preference and Movement? There's an App for That!

The number of smartphone mobile applications (apps) has exploded in tandem with the number of smartphone users over the past decade as developers have taken advantage of the compact but powerful computing platforms offered by these devices. In addition to their mobile computing capabilities, smartphones also regularly contain other measurement systems including GPS, accelerometers, and high resolution cameras and video. We hypothesize that the use of smartphone apps in the fisheries discipline is lagging and has widespread potential applications with high impact value. In support of this, we analyzed a database from a fishing related app deployed in Alberta to demonstrate how user generated information can be analyzed to resolve patterns in lake popularity and connectivity. In our paper we give special attention to how these patterns can inform the management of aquatic invasive species and fish diseases.