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 in 2023!

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 in 2023 get a free waterproof phone holder when they use the app. Perfect for entering data as you fish.

Prizes

2 x £50 Fishing Megastore vouchers
2 x £50 Social Supermarket gift card

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)

My main motivations are to raise the profile of sea angling and to stop us always being treated as unimportant compared to commercial fishing and that we care more for the marine environment than commercial fishing people do.
— Diarist

I’ve been looking for some way to give back to the sport we love and using the sea angling diary project is the perfect way. Not only does it give me more of a reason to go out fishing but the data that I put on the site also benefits me and gives a chance to see what tides and what conditions are producing more fish.
— Alex (2021 diarist)

An excellent sea fishing recording system that is simple and easy to use. It will help a lot of anglers see how they have fished over the year/years.
— Diarist

Diarist Photographs

News and Competitions

Last month’s prize winners

Richard who won a £50 Fishing Megastore voucher
Richard who won a £25 Fishing Megastore voucher
Steve who won a £25 RNLI goody bag