About the Community Fishers Program
ONC’s Community Fishers mobile app makes it possible for vessel operators, mariners, and fishers to collect important oceanographic data. Using a Conductivity, Temperature, Depth (CTD) instrument connected to a mobile device, the app simplifies the collection and transfer of water column data to the Oceans 3.0 portal.
Pacheedaht First Nations Community Fishers team members Leon Jones and Guy Louie sample water column data in the Strait of Georgia during a training session with ONC’s Tanner Owca (right) in January 2020. The conductivity-temperature-depth sensor collects high resolution water profile information. These data flow through the Community Fishers app to ONC’s data management portal, Oceans 3.0.
Data gathered by community fishers can be accessed via this dashboard and Oceans 3.0, providing insight into ocean conditions and marine habitat, and establishing baseline data for our changing ocean.
Our geospatial mapping tool, launched in 2020, further enhances community fishers’ experience. This interactive interface displays high-resolution water column profiles, enabling clear visual representations of complex underwater environments. The geospatial map helps users identify problems, track changes, perform forecasting, and respond to events.
The Community Fishers program was launched in partnership with the Pacific Salmon Foundation in 2015, with a goal to understand the causes of decline in coho and Chinook salmon in the Salish Sea. Additional partners include the Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Iqaluit Community, Kitsumkalum First Nation, Maritime Aboriginal Peoples Council, Nunatsiavut Government, Pacheedaht First Nation, Tsleil-Waututh Nation, T’Sou-ke First Nation. Read more about this project here.
