By Dave Branco

Anglers cast for science

Apr 28, 2026 | 3:30 PM

PRINCE GEORGE – A fish kill and piles of old ministry data were the beginnings of what is now a citizen science platform used across the continent.

Sean Simmons came to Prince George in 1994 as one of the first graduate students at UNBC. While doing early research, he found valuable fisheries data from northern B.C., which inspired him to start Angler’s Atlas in 1999 with only 15 free fishing maps. Now, the platform based in Prince George attracts about one million anglers each year.

The next big step was MyCatch, a mobile app that lets anglers record their catches in real time, including species, size, and location. This creates organized data that scientists can use. Traditional fisheries monitoring costs a lot and doesn’t cover much ground, but MyCatch uses the help of millions of people already out fishing.

The COVID pandemic sped up progress. When tournaments ended in 2020, Simmons turned them into virtual citizen-science events focused on real research questions. One major project, done with the U.S. Geological Survey and the University of West Virginia, tracked Blotchy Bass disease across the continent. This work revealed seasonal patterns that would have cost millions to find using traditional methods.

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Privacy is a key part of the system. Location data is made anonymous and only shown at the water-body level, so anglers’ favourite spots remain private.

Now, MyCatch is growing into Oregon, California, and other coastal U.S. states with a new Saltwater Surge initiative. You can download it for free at anglersatlas.com.

by Dave Branco

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Anglers cast for science

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