Croatian marine biologists develop a fish identification database

An app with multiple uses

An app currently in development by three undergraduate students and two postgraduates will use contributions from fishermen, citizens, and scientists to create a large database of fish populations in the Adriatic Sea

Kristina Odžak and Sandi Kavara, two marine biologists are part of a team developing Sea ID, an app that can be used to identify marine species, among other capabilities.

Once completed and launched, Sea ID, as the app is called, could be a valuable resource for recreational and sport fishermen and scientists across Croatia. By simply taking a picture of a fish, the Sea ID user will be able to identify and receive information on the species that they have caught. Using contributions from fishers and scientists, the Sea ID team is working to develop a comprehensive database for marine species in the Adriatic. When users photograph a fish that they either saw at the fish market or caught, it will identify the fish, its potentially applicable current management measures and then the photograph and its location data will be added to the database. This project aims to help people learn more about fish species in the Adriatic Sea, bolster scientific knowledge about them, and contribute to conservation and sustainability efforts.

Funding is critical particularly in the early phases of development

Developing a resource of the size and scale that the developers hope Sea ID will be, is not easy or cheap. The group that is working on the development of this project are all students at the University of Split. Two team members, Kristina Odžak and Sandi Kavara, explained that their team includes five people from the University of Split and they are researchers, graduate students, and undergraduate students with degrees in marine biology as well as economics and IT.

Most of the funding for the project comes through an organization called Oceanus, a student-run, non-governmental organization that helps student groups secure funding for marine biology and fisheries related projects. The app on which users can photograph a species and receive an identification will be free for all users. This will help ensure that the database can be developed, and that people will continue to contribute to the database. Access to the database for scientists or sport and recreational fishermen wishing to see where fish were caught will cost money. Currently, in the early phases of the project, they have 73 members subscribing to the software each of whom pays HRK50 (EUR6.65) per year for access.

A prototype hinging on the contributions of many different groups

The versatility of the program allows for a variety of user groups to benefit while also relying on the contributions of each user for its success. The primary objective of the software is to provide a resource on which users can take a picture of a fish they caught and have it identified. This then will allow scientists and fishermen to look at the data and see where the majority of an individual species was caught or if there were any changes to the migratory patterns or habits of a species. For the app to be successful and have a sufficiently sized database, it will require contributions from many recreational fishermen. Recreational fishermen are the user group that is catching the most fish and the greatest diversity of fish which will help the scale of the database. The success of the project depends on fishermen using the app, however, there is limited incentive for the fishermen. The app is free, so it does not inhibit them from contributing to the project, however, many of them do not care to identify the fish they are catching. The primary benefit for fishermen who contribute to the program is the development of a fishing community. Currently, fishing communities are dependent on Facebook groups and these Facebook groups can be exclusive, as users need to be invited, and are often very disjointed. Most of the activity in the group is fishermen asking for a fish to be identified and often the suggested identification is incorrect. This app would provide a group for recreational fishermen that accomplishes everything that Facebook groups do in a much more inclusive manner. At an Ocean Hackathon 2022 competition the app developers surveyed 610 different people in 48 hours. Analysing the responses showed an overall interest in the product and demand for a resource that makes fishing data and fish identification accessible to all. If fishermen’s contributions are successfully secured, the data collected by the fishermen can then be studied by scientists. This data collection will allow scientists to obtain real time information in a visually accessible form. Data will include volume caught by the fishermen, GPS location, length of fish, and time spent catching the fish. This data will enable scientists to track migratory patterns or other behavioral traits. The last potential user group is tourists and other consumers. Tourists can use the app if they go fishing in order to learn about the species in the Adriatic Sea. The app will also work for fish being sold in fish markets. Users can photograph a fish in the market and verify that it has been correctly labeled and make sure that they are not paying for one species and being given another. This allows the app to be both a scientific and lifestyle resource.

A potential solution for overfishing and illegal fishing practices

Illegal fishing in Croatia, especially recreationally, is an ongoing issue. This app could help manage some of these issues. For fishermen, this app will allow them to avoid catching fish out of season or endangered species. Some degree of illegal fishing occurs because the fisherman doesn’t realize that the species he has caught is out of season or is endangered. This app will allow a fisherman to verify what species he has caught and what the regulations around the species are. Following proper identification of the species, he can then either release the fish or retain it. Illegal fishing, however, also poses a challenge for the app developers. Illegal fishermen have no incentive to use the app and if they are intentionally breaking fishing regulations, they will not use the software. For tourists or non-fishermen users, the app also will work as a resource to educate people on sustainable fisheries and regulations in place to manage fish stocks. Getting a fishing license in Croatia does not require the fishermen to learn very much about the regulations in place. Most of the time, the fisherman is responsible for learning about the laws and following them. Recreational fishers who use the app could familiarize himself with the relevant laws.

A generalized app with a large possibility for growth

Currently for the prototypes being developed, data being collected for the app is focused on marine organisms. The group working on the project is primarily marine biologists, so they are limited to marine species. The developers plan to stick to their generalized approach in order to attract a larger potential group of users of the product. Including freshwater species as well as the capabilities to identify marine species beyond fish are also potential routes for further development. The goal will be to identify all sea organisms including crabs, mollusks, and algae. Most apps currently on the market do not offer any identification beyond fish species so this generalization will add to the versatility of the app. Also, they hope to expand the database to the entire Mediterranean Sea and have widespread use across Europe. Evidently, the greater the capacity of the program and the more data that is collected, the better the science can be, and the more effective the conservation efforts.

Maggie Liebich, maggie@eurofish.dk

App name: Sea ID

Purpose: Identify Adriatic fi sh species; create a database from user inputs; combat illegal fi shing

Developers: Kristina Odžak,

Marine fi sheries; Sandi Kavara, Marine biology and technology, University of Split; Andro Rudan, Marine biology and technology, University of Split; Andrija Kević, IT engineer; Ana Maria Vujević, Faculty of Economics, Business and Tourism, University of Split.