Internet Recreational Effort and Catch (iREC) Reporting Program

Internet Recreational Effort and Catch (iREC) reporting program

Welcome to the Internet Recreational Effort and Catch reporting program. This program collects information on recreational fishing activity in tidal waters from thousands of participants, who each report on their fishing activity and catch for their assigned reporting period. All adult licence holders are selected each year to provide an iREC report, and the report should only reflect the fishing activity of the licence holder and that of any accompanying juvenile fishers.

Completing your report helps to sustainably manage our shared fishery resources. It is also a condition of your tidal waters recreational fishing license to provide your fishing information through this reporting program. Even if you didn't fish at all or did fish but didn’t catch anything, you are still required to complete your report.

Look at the middle of the first page of your licence for details on completing your report, including your access ID, reporting period and deadline.

Fisheries and Oceans Canada will also send emails reminding you to complete your report. The emails will include a direct access link to the online reporting program. It is important that your current email address is entered in your DFO licensing system account, so you will receive these reminders.

To complete your iREC report, please follow these step-by-step instructions.

To start your report, log-in using the information provided in the middle of your licence or the access link provided in one of your reminder emails. If you did not fish during your reporting period, please click the blue “I did not fish for finfish or shellfish recreationally…” button below. This option is only active when your reporting period is finished.

If you wish to return to the program and complete it at a later time, you may select the red “Close Current Session…” button.

If you fished during your reporting period, select the green “Continue to report fishing” button.

A calendar will appear. Please select the dates on which you went fishing. You may select multiple dates, or you can add additional dates later.

Note that your calendar will only show the month for which you have been selected to report, and will only allow you to report for dates in your reporting period.

Once selected, you cannot remove dates from this window, but if you wish to remove dates, you will find that option on the report dashboard.

Choose “Save”.

This will open your report dashboard. Here, the entries for each date you fished will be listed. You can add additional dates using the blue “Add Date” button.

Using the blue “Add an Area” button, record each area where you fished on a given date. If you know the name of the area where you fished, you can pick from a list, or you can use a map to choose an area. On the map, zoom in on the area you fished, select the area and click on the green button in the upper left corner to confirm and continue.

This returns you to the report dashboard. Enter all the areas you fished on each date. Use the white buttons to select all of the fishing methods you used on each date in each area.

Once a method is selected, a yellow button will appear that allows to you complete the record for this date/area/method combination. Click this button.

A new screen will open, where you can enter details about your fishing event. In this box, add the number of children with Juvenile fishing licences, for whom you are responsible and who fished with you – only one adult needs to report the catch for juvenile fishing licenses. You will be reporting their catch along with yours.

If you selected “Shellfish trapping from Boat”, please record which types of traps you checked.

If you select “Angling from Boat”, please record if your fishing day originated from a sport fishing lodge. Also, please record if you fished with a paid guide. This information is not requested for other fishing methods.

If you select 'Angling from Boat', 'Angling from Shore', or 'Dive-based or other', please record if you or the children fishing with you for whom you are responsible kept or released any salmon during each date-area-method event.

Then select the green “save and continue to the next page” button.

If you select “Yes” for the salmon question, a page will now open where you can record all information specific to the salmon you caught during the date-area-method combination shown at the top of the page. Please enter the number of salmon you kept and the number that you released for each species. You do not need to enter “0” for any species you did not catch. Select the green “Continue to Review and Confirm page” button to confirm.

The salmon form with the numbers you provided is now displayed again. Review your responses and select the green “I have reviewed my responses, continue” button to continue.

On the next page, please enter the number of other types of finfish or shellfish caught by you and the children fishing with you for whom you are responsible. Do not record fish caught by other adults in your group. Again, you do not need to enter “0” for any species you did not catch.

For information on species identification, please follow the links provided at the top of the page. Also, some species have information buttons which, when clicked, provide more information about the species. For example, the button for Codfish lists which species are included under this category.

Scroll down the list until you find the species you caught.

Please enter the number of fish you kept and the number that you released for each species.

When completed, please scroll down and select the green “Continue to Review and Confirm page” button.

The catch form with the numbers you provided is now displayed again. Please ensure your entries are correct. You may make corrections on this form. Once correct, please scroll down and select the green “I have reviewed my responses, continue” button.

For Halibut kept catch, additional information is requested. If you kept any halibut, you will be asked to provide the head-on length for each halibut. Please refer to the licence(s) on which these lengths were recorded. If you don't have the licence(s) available, then select “Length unknown”. Select the green ‘Save and Continue’ button.

For those who completed a record for 'Shellfish Trapping from Boat', a map will appear. Click on the map to drop a pin on the approximate centre of your trapping activity. Click the green box to confirm and continue. If you are unsure of where you fished within an area, then click to continue without making a selection. If you indicated that you checked both crab and Prawn/shrimp traps on a particular day and area, then you will be asked to provide the centre of your crab trapping activity and then the centre of your prawn trapping activity.

You will now return to Your Report Dashboard.

You can now complete records for any other fishing events.

You may also add further dates by selecting the blue “Add Date” button. You can also remove records made in error from this page by selecting the X, then 'Yes' to permanently delete the record. To view or edit responses, please select “View / Edit record”. You can view all of your records for each date/area/method combination and if necessary make corrections by selecting the appropriate blue “edit” button.

If you have no further dates or details to report at this time, please select the red “Close current session. I will return later to complete my report" button.

Once your reporting period is over, please return to the program before the deadline and add further records or confirm that all your fishing information has been provided for the month.

If you are completing your report after your reporting period is finished, and you have no further information to add, you may select the green “I have completely reported all of my fishing information for my reporting period” button. This option is not available until all the reports that have been started are completed.

A pop-up box will ask you to confirm that you have entered all fishing information for the reporting period. Click “Yes”.

This is the last screen where you can enter information. You can add polite comments about your fishing activity or the program here if you wish; they are not required. If you have questions or are experiencing difficulty completing your report, please email us using the link provided.

Once completed, please select the green “Complete report…” button.

Thank you for your cooperation. This information allows Fisheries and Oceans Canada to estimate recreational fishing effort and catch, which helps to ensure a vibrant, sustainable recreational fishery into the future.

For more information on the iREC reporting program, please visit https://www.pac.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/fm-gp/rec/report-declarez-eng.html