New App Partnership Furthers Data Collection with Mass DMF

The American Saltwater Guides Association Partners with GotOne to Further Data Collection in Ongoing Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries Study of Release Mortality of Striped Bass 

Collaboration with the GotOne Mobile App Enables Anglers Everywhere to Contribute to Fishery Management Studies and Better Assess Population Distribution and Release Mortality 

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Washington, DC – August 11, 2023 – The American Saltwater Guides Association (the “ASGA”), a coalition of forward-thinking guides, small business owners and like-minded anglers who understand the value of keeping fish in the water, today announced a partnership with the GotOne app (“GotOne”) to help expand the data collection for the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries’ (“MA DMF”) ongoing study on release mortality of striped bass.

This partnership will utilize the capabilities of the GotOne to enable volunteer recreational anglers to track and directly submit data on landings, harvest and potential survival.  ASGA has worked closely with GotOne’s founder, Luyen Chou, over the past year to ensure that the app protects anglers’ privacy, while collecting the data needed to support fisheries science and management.  The partnership between the ASGA, MA DMF and GotOne supports directives from NOAA to explore new technology that enable more effective data collection utilizing the recreational angling community.  This partnership between private, non-profit and government agencies can provide a broader template for recreational fishermen to contribute to science in a meaningful way.  

“We have always been staunch supporters of leveraging the best available science to drive fishery management decisions,” said Tony Friedrich, Vice President and Policy Director for the ASGA.  “With that said, by its nature, fishery science has blind spots in terms of data collection, and we hear frequently from regulators that it can impact their ability to truly assess pressure, catch numbers and harvest up and down the coast.  With GotOne and partnerships similar to this, we can assist management bodies by collecting data that can be used to aid in research and make stock assessments more robust.  We believe this initial integration of a private-market product into state-led studies can truly change the game in terms of the quality and quantity of data collected simultaneously across relevant species and geographic ranges.  We look forward to working closely with the team at GotOne and the DMF as its striped bass mortality study continues through 2024, and to forging similar partnerships with other state and regional agencies to help understand the impact effort and regulations are having on fish stocks.”  

“Catch and release mortality is recognized as a major contributor to the overall striped bass mortality in Massachusetts and along the Eastern Seaboard,” said Ben Gahagan from MA DMF.  “Embarking on this next phase of our study and incorporating the enhanced data anglers will be able to collect through this partnership will provide us a more in-depth understanding of fishing effort and mortality rates of released fish.  We thank GotOne and the ASGA for working with us as we move into the next stage of data collection so we can create management efforts that best reflect the current status of the fishery.”

“We created GotOne to help anglers catch more fish with data.  Our mission is to allow anglers to carefully track their catch histories by seamlessly linking caught fish to location, water temperature, tides, moon phases and other conditions,” said Luyen Chou, Founder of GotOne.  “Conservation and the ability to aggregate data collected from recreational anglers to help managers, while generalizing location data and protecting angler privacy, has always been central to that mission, and we are honored and thrilled to have the opportunity to partner with MA DMF on this study to help better understand the impact catch and release fishing is having on striped bass.  We are grateful for the support the ASGA has provided in our development, and are excited to continue working with them and to future partnerships of this nature.”  

As a follow-up to its 2020-2021 study on striped bass catch and release mortality, MA DMF has expanded its investigation of release mortality to include striped bass caught via artificial lures and flies.  To do so, it is seeking volunteer anglers to collect information using the GotOne app when they go striped bass fishing.  Importantly, this part of the study is not restricted to anglers located in Massachusetts, and the more data it can collect, the better its conclusions will be.  To participate, click here to become a Striped Bass Citizen Scientist.

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About GotOne 

GotOne is a simple-to-use fishing log app for iOS and Android devices, focused initially on US inshore / nearshore saltwater fishing.  GotOne allows fishermen to log catches through a few quick clicks or voice commands. For each entry, the app records the species and length of fish caught. Based on the location and time of catch, each log entry also records water temperature, moon phase, tide and wind information, and allows anglers to record optional information, such as notes and other observations.

GotOne contributes to the fishing knowledge of individual anglers, but ultimately contributes to the science of fisheries management with a data-driven, crowd-sourced approach that has never before been available for researchers and policymakers.  To download the app and for more information, visit https://gotoneapp.com/

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About the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries

The Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries serves Massachusetts’ citizens by protecting, restoring, and enhancing fishery resources and their habitats, while providing sustainable fisheries related recreational and commercial opportunities.

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A note from Nonprofit Sponsor – The Nature Conservancy

“The Nature Conservancy is proud to support GotOne! and ASGA in bringing innovative technology to fisheries data collection.  This partnership and platform are special because it’s fishermen designing a system that works for them,” said Kate Wilke, Fisheries Scientist for The Nature Conservancy.  “They’re working with agency scientists to put the system to the test to fill specific gaps in the data, and we’re excited to see the platform and its utility grow.”

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About Industry Sponsor – Hatch Outdoors

Hatch Outdoors, the maker of premium fly fishing products, has graciously stepped up as the leading industry sponsor of the GotOne App, hoping to improve data collection and further the understanding and ability to protect the fisheries their customers rely on.

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FEATURE GUIDE POST EPISODE:

Prefer to consume your news in audio format? Listen to GotOne founder Luyen Chou and ASGA’s Tony Friedrich discuss the new app and the latest partnership in Episode 110 of The Guide Post Podcast.

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