About the Project

The Sea Angling Diary Project is for all sea anglers in England and Wales to help improve the sustainable management of marine stocks and demonstrate the value of sea angling. The project is delivered by Substance and the Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (Cefas) on behalf of the English and Welsh governments. It has helped to report the activity, catches and economic and social value of recreational sea angling since 2016 which is used to inform better decision making about sea angling’s future. Over 2,000 sea anglers take part every year – join them now and discover some great benefits!

Find out more & FAQs

How we protect your fishing information.

Sign up here to take part!

Reports from Sea Angling Diary 2016/2017 and 2018/2019 are available now.

FREE Sea Angling Diary Mobile App!

Everyone who takes part can get a FREE mobile app. With the Sea Angling Diary app you can:

Record all your fishing sessions – location, tackle, weather and tide.
Use our NEW live tracking for your fishing sessions.
Record all your catches, including length and numbers kept and returned.
Add photos to your catches directly from your phone.
Get a Dashboard and Annual Report of your fishing!

This unique app is ONLY available if you SIGN UP as a diarist and is on both Android and Apple stores.

Benefits

Diary Pack

A diary pack with

Sea Fish ID book
Catch recording kit – tape measure and waterproof notebook
FREE Mobile App
Online tool and personal dashboard

To help the environment you can select to go paperless when you sign up.

App and waterproof phone holder

Download Our Free Diary App. All new users get a free waterproof phone holder when they use the app. Perfect for entering data as you fish.

Prizes

Monthly draws:

£50 and £25 Fishing Megastore vouchers
RNLI goody bag

Competition T&Cs

Support from across the Angling, Fishery and Marine sector!

Why you should get involved

I got involved in the Diary because I felt that there is very little known about fish behaviour and the science behind angling. Why is it that I can catch one day, but not the other? Why is it that the guy fishing a few miles away can catch whilst I can't? By recording everything in detail, I'd like to think that we are helping to contribute to a better understanding....It was also an opportunity for the recreational angler to have a voice, and hopefully for the results of all the surveys to demonstrate how important angling is, whether for economic reasons, or mental health/relaxation and so on. Read more
— Adrian (returning diarist)

The online Web based tool has been my companion since I first enrolled a few years back, the annual reports are particularly useful. These annual reports allow me to access and look back on overall catches from past years. I use this data to produce tables and charts which show changes in fish species count and distribution, as I look for year on year trends.
— Peter (returning diarist)

I like the fact that this project is always being looked at. I.e. It’s not something that was created and then never thought about again. The regular emails to fill in the month are quick and easy.
— Karl, diarist

I enjoy using the app and reporting sessions, I never measured fish before I started using it, the only fish I routinely kept were Mackerel, my favourite to eat or catch.
— Mike, diarist

The sea diary also gave me a great way of recording my catches and the rigs, baits and venues I have fished that I can refer back to for the next time I fish there again.
— Chris, diarist

Diarist Photographs

News and Competitions

Prize winners

Over £4,500 of vouchers have been donated so far since 2019 by Fishing Megastores
Over £1,000 of items have been bought from the RNLI, supporting their efforts to save lives at sea!

All Data

Since 2016, the Sea Angling Diary has collected data to estimate the number of sea anglers, their fishing frequency, catch compositions, and the social and economic benefits they generate. These estimates derive from two surveys: a survey of 12,000 individuals to estimate the numbers and characteristics of anglers, and the contribution of our diarist 'citizen scientists' who report their catches through the Sea Angling Diary!

The results from these surveys were published in 2024 in a joint report from Substance and Cefas and can be accessed here: Sea Angling in the UK report 2016-2021

This report is now also available to everyone to explore and visualise the data through an open-access online system, UK SAIL .