FISHstory
Using the power of the crowd to better understand South Atlantic fisheries of the past and present.
Stories of catches told by fishermen such as Ernest Hemingway and Zane Gray indicate that recreational fisheries have been operating in the South Atlantic since well before catch monitoring began in the mid-1970s. A lack of data on the catch and size of fish from this time limits our ability to understand these historic fisheries.
The FISHstory project uses historic dock photos from the 1940s-1980s to document catch and size composition from this time period. The insights from this project will better inform historic recreational data used in stock assessments and help us better understand fisheries of both the past and present.
Find information for:
The collection of FISHstory information is authorized under the OMB Control Number included in the Citizen Science & Crowdsourcing Information Collection page.
Project Components
Digitizing and archiving historic fishing photos.
For the initial pilot project, retired Capt Rusty Hudson provided over 1,374 photos from his family’s fishing fleet in Daytona Beach, FL from the 1940s to 1970s. We’re now working to expand from a pilot to a full-scale project and want to grow our archive with fishing photos from the entire South Atlantic region.
Estimating for-hire catch composition using the online crowdsourcing platform, Zooniverse.
Through Zooniverse, volunteers are trained to identify and count the fish and people in historic fishing photos. Multiple volunteers review each photo and when there is substantial volunteer disagreement our Validation Team, a group of fish ID experts, help verify what is in the photos.
Developing a method to estimate fish length in historic photos and estimating size composition for key species.
During the pilot project, a method to estimate fish length in the photos was developed using the lumber in the leaderboards as a scale. A team of length analysts used this method to measure King Mackerel in the photos. We will continue measuring King Mackerel as our photo archive grows and will begin measuring Red Snapper. As the project moves forward, we aim to expand the number of species we’re collecting lengths on.
These components were developed during FISHstory’s pilot phase. If you would like to see the pilot project results, please visit the Zooniverse Results page or watch this presentation summarizing the results.
Want to join the FISHstory project? There are many ways to get involved.
Have Historic Fishing Photos? Come to a scanning event!
Share them with the FISHstory project! Come to a scanning event, where we’ll scan and return hard copy photos, gather background information, and share digital copies back with photo providers. Contact julia.byrd@safmc.net for more information.
Snapper Grouper
Advisory Panel Meeting
Town & Country Hotel
2008 Savannah Highway
Charleston, SC 29407
October 15, 2024 from 1pm-5pm
October 16, 2024 from 8:30am-5pm
October 17, 2024 from 8:30am-12pm
Not able to attend a scanning event but want to share photos? Or are you interested in seeing a scanning event in your community? Reach out to Julia Byrd, the Citizen Science Program Manager, at julia.byrd@safmc.net.
Project Partners
The FISHstory project wouldn’t be possible without so many amazing partners and volunteers. These include our FISHstory Design and Validation Teams, Length Analysts, the Zooniverse platform and volunteers, outreach partners, photo providers, North Carolina State University, and NOAA Fisheries. Special thanks go to Captain Rusty Hudson, who shared his family’s fishing photos and expertise with us, to kick off our pilot project.
The FISHstory pilot project was funded in part through a NOAA Fisheries’ Fisheries Information Systems Program grant. FISHstory is currently funded in part through the Atlantic Coastal Cooperative Statistics Program.
“The SAFMC Citizen Science FISHstory effort to crowd source with our family’s professional pictures was a welcome development. The Stone, and Timmons families are encouraged by the FISHstory efforts to gain useful knowledge from these photographs.”
Rusty Hudson