Isnapper: Improving Private Recreational Data Collection in the Gulf Red Snapper Fishery Using a Smartphone Application

A major challenge faced by fishery managers is how to use fisheries dependent data due to concerns about the accuracy and timeliness of the catch information.  Dockside surveys are aimed at collecting this data, but are limited by the number of interviewers and data turn-around time.  With rapidly emerging technology, we developed a mobile application, iSnapper, to collect near real-time data from private and for-hire Red Snapper anglers.  Red Snapper is one of the most highly targeted offshore species and characterized by very contentious management, creating a need for new innovative ideas on how to collect the best available data in the private arena.  iSnapper users record their catch and effort information and the data is available to fisheries biologists in near real-time.  Data collected from iSnapper will be compared using Texas creel intercept surveys allowing us to estimate Red Snapper catch during the state and federal seasons, and validate the accuracy of self-reported data.  These data will be critical for management strategies for Red Snapper in both state and federal waters off the Texas coast, and shows that this technology has great potential to be used more extensively in the recreational fishing sector.