New recreational fishing app ready to download

Minister for Agricultural Industry Development and Fisheries The Honourable Mark Furner

A new software application for Queensland recreational fishers has been launched and is now available to download free.

Minister for Agricultural Industry Development and Fisheries Mark Furner said the new technology is all about protecting Queensland’s valuable fisheries resources for future generations to enjoy.

“‘Qld Fishing 2.0’ is an improved version of the original ‘Qld Fishing’ app and aims to assist recreational fishers to better understand and comply with fishing rules and regulations,” Mr Furner said.

“All the best features of the first app are still there, but with a number of new functions added for the benefit of avid anglers.”

“There is a lot of excitement about the new artificial intelligence technology the app uses. “It can currently identify 20 common fish species with a high level of accuracy. The fish recognition technology and number of species it can identify will continuously improve with additional data and future releases.

“Users can do their part for citizen science by submitting their fish photos to help train the app’s fish recognition tool.”

Mr Furner said the app’s new functionality will allow users to:

  • submit a photo and identify their catch through cutting edge fish recognition technology
  • understand the fishing rules in any location with the ‘Can I Fish Here’ feature
  • receive Fisheries Queensland notifications including reminders about upcoming fishing closures
  • buy a permit to fish in Queensland’s 63 stocked dams and weirs
  • learn more about their catch such as approximate age based on the fish size entered in the app
  • contact Fisheries Queensland to submit information or make an enquiry or complaint.

Mr Furner said the new app can be used in remote locations or in areas with limited mobile signal reception.

“The app uses cached species data and simplified mapping information as part of its offline functionality and has artificial intelligence to identify a limited number of common fish species,” he said.

“Photos of fish are only used to help train the app’s artificial intelligence. I want to reassure people that the new recreational fishing app does not collect or store personal information about the user or where they are fishing.”

Mr Furner said the original ‘Qld Fishing’ app, which was very popular and was downloaded more than 40,000 times, will no longer be maintained or available for download.

“Users who have the previous app installed can uninstall it and install ‘Qld Fishing 2.0’ to take advantage of its new features,” he said.

The new recreational fishing app can be downloaded for free by searching for ‘Qld Fishing 2.0’ in the App Store and via Google Play.

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