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2004 Fishing Results Reported for Maine, Catch and Release rate greater than 90% March 31, 2005 Portland, Maine - TripTracks, Inc. and the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife (MDIF&W) announces the availability of the TripTracks Fishing Logbook 2004 Year End Report. Over 700 anglers from across the region recorded data about their fishing trips last year in the online system that was developed by TripTracks, in partnership with the MDIF&W. "We were very encouraged by the level of participation that anglers demonstrated by using TripTracks as their personal logbook." said Dan Tarkinson, co-creator of the TripTracks service. "Considering that this was just the first year that the service was offered, we didn't know what to expect. The number of users returning week after week really proved that there was definite interest." John Boland, Director of Fisheries Operations from the MDIF&W, added some thoughts about the TripTracks Fishing Logbook service and its first year of use. "With a limited staff, IFW's Fishery Division relies on voluntary angling information to help make management decisions. In its first year, TripTracks proved to be an effective means to provide biologists with the additional information necessary to monitor and manage Maine's Fisheries. In addition to catch rates and fish sizes, TripTracks provides IFW some insight into angler desires and trends. TripTracks undoubtedly will be a very useful tool for Maine's fishery biologists." Also of interest was data gathered from users of the service about their experiences with using the online logbook to record their fishing trip data. Some of the results were quite positive. TripTracks co-creator Keith Sirois reported, "In a survey that we conducted earlier this year, over 80% of the users indicated that their primary reason for using TripTracks was to help out the MDIF&W by providing them with voluntary catch data. We think that is really encouraging, and show that anglers truly do care about protecting the resource." TripTracks Inc. was founded in 2003 and is based in Portland, Maine. TripTracks Fishing Logbook is a free Internet-based service that allows an angler fishing any of Maine's inland waters to log their fishing trip data in a personal, private logbook. The logbook provides the users with the ability to capture data about their trip, what they might have caught, and upload photos of their fish. TripTracks Fishing Logbook partners with the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife to provide the data logged by its users to the department's fisheries biologists to aid them in the management of the state's fisheries. For more information, and to download the complete TripTracks Fishing Logbook 2004 Year End Report, please visit www.triptracks.com. Contacts: |
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