CleanCatch UK

Who will use the Wildlife Bycatch Reporting App?

The CleanCatch App is the tool which will enable commercial fishers to self-report any unintentional, vulnerable wildlife bycatch during their daily fishing activities. Working in partnership through the Clean Catch UK project, this App has been co-developed between fishers and scientists to report the unintentional bycatch of multiple wildlife species. Scientists will use the information provided to build a better picture of when and where wildlife species are bycaught in UK fisheries.

The Clean Catch UK project supports UK Governments commitment to work closely with the fishing industry, with the industry taking a greater shared responsibility for sustainably managing UK fisheries through reducing, and where possible, eliminating the bycatch of vulnerable species.

Clean Catch UK ‘Joint Action to Reduce Wildlife Bycatch’, ultimately promotes the drive for ‘clean’ catch UK fisheries, free from unintentional vulnerable species bycatch.

What data will the Wildlife Bycatch Reporting App collect?

Using simple click through and intuitive prompt questions, fishers can self-report the details of:
1. Daily fishing activity (e.g. weight of target catch by species, gear, soak time and location),
2. Wildlife bycatch (e.g dolphins/ porpoises, sharks, seabirds, seals etc)
3. Gear modifications or devices actively used to reduce wildlife bycatch.

No personal information will be collected by the App, and a secure sign-in feature keeps all pre-entered information saved and secure.

When will the Wildlife Bycatch Reporting App be used?

The App has been co-designed with fishers to be intuitive to use when fishing, every day at sea.

Where will the Wildlife Bycatch Reporting be used?

The App’s features allow it to be used across all UK fisheries. This includes, both inshore and offshore net, trawl, line and trap fisheries.

Why is the Wildlife Bycatch Reporting App needed?

The UK Government’s ambition is to reduce and where possible eliminate vulnerable wildlife bycatch in UK fisheries. To optimally focus ways to reduce wildlife bycatch, and to see if they work, we first need to better understand the level of wildlife bycatch across UK fisheries. The challenge is that the level of monitoring of wildlife bycatch in UK fisheries through observer programmes is sub-optimal, so the where and when wildlife bycatch occurs, across UK fisheries is poorly understood. The CleanCatch App puts fishers at the heart of wildlife bycatch monitoring, providing them with the tool to self-report their unintentional wildlife bycatch, that otherwise goes unrecorded. The CleanCatch App will help to increase the level of wildlife bycatch monitoring in UK fisheries through fisher and scientist collaborative partnership, building a better understanding of bycatch in UK fisheries.