Get Involved

The Sea Angling Diary is a catch recording app created by Cefas and Substance. It can be used by any sea angler in England and Wales. You record your fishing activity and catches in an online catch diary and free mobile app, which helps to improve decision-making around the marine environment and show the value of recreational fishing. The project is delivered by Substance and the Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (Cefas) on behalf of the English and Welsh governments. Over 2,000 sea anglers take part every year – join them now and discover more great benefits!

Inland Fisheries Ireland (IFI) is the state environment agency responsible for protecting, managing and conserving Ireland's inland fisheries and sea angling resources. Since the banning of commercial fishing for bass in Irish waters, anglers play an key role in their stewardship. They run a Ireland-wide project, which combines a bass nursery monitoring programme with a citizen science project where bass anglers and the general public measure, tag and report their catches. This programme also involves anglers collecting scale samples for age and growth analyses. If you'd like to get involved, they'd love to hear from you.

The Cornwall Bass Investigations Group are a group of volunteer citizen scientists who conduct juvenile bass surveys on the Helford, Fal and Camel estuaries in Cornwall. The purpose of the surveys is to provide an assessment of the strength of each successive year class and its growth, and to monitor any adverse effects on survival of bass during their first winter caused by prolonged and very cold spells. The data we produce provides additional evidence for monitoring bass stock levels. The work is fascinating and great fun! Anybody with an interest in fish (not just bass - we see lots of other fish), fishing or conservation, will enjoy the surveys, which take place in some beautiful surroundings. There is no obligation, or minimum number of surveys you should do - just volunteer for any that are convenient for you.

The Medway no-take zone (NTZ) is the largest marine protected area in the UK. It covers 4.6 square miles of saltmarsh and mudflat environments, which are vital for the survival of many fish species, in particular juvenile fish, providing them with shelter from predators and storms and an abundance of prey for them to feed on. This project aims to monitor the impact of the NTZ on fish communities by sampling inside and outside of the NTZ through time to assess changes in abundance, species composition and fish condition. The Living River Foundation is supported entirely by volunteers, so we are always grateful for people’s help with fish surveys and other activities like littering collecting.

CAST works with anglers as citizen scientists and is currently collecting data on five fish species in the Solent, including bass. Sea fishing is a globally popular activity so recreational anglers are a substantial group of highly motivated and engaged potential citizen scientists. One aspect of the CAST project is using a newly established annual sea angling competition located in the Solent to collect relevant data, then test and optimise the citizen science method. Another, which everyone can get involved in, is creating an Artificial Intelligence model to identify and measure fish from photos. If anyone has images of bass on a measuring board/ruler, please send them to CAST as they'd love to see them!

FRESHseaBASS aims to unravel the importance and associated consequences of sea bass freshwater movements, using a diverse methodological toolbox, including fishers' knowledge. Evaluating the importance of the freshwater contingent in terms of fisheries and for replenishment of coastal stocks is key for the sustainable management of the species. If you regularly catch sea bass in freshwater or are aware of adult sea bass (>32cm) being caught in freshwater, they'd love to hear from you by completing the linked form.

The aims of the BASS Catch Recording System are to obtain regional indicators of fishing quality (good or bad), and show how this may vary over the seasons and the years. This will provide valuable data that can be shared within BASS, and with researcher partners and fisheries managers. Any BASS member may participate (membership costs £25 per annum). Participating anglers are asked to complete a catch return, recording every trip (including blanks) they make where they are targeting bass. Although involvement from the beginning of the season is best, they welcome participants at any point in the year.