Preparation and education are keys to success on the water, especially when chasing marlin and sailfish. Understanding billfish behavior and knowledge of their habitat is also fundamental to conservation efforts.
20Echo is a proprietary database that contains oceanic and environmental data for any location on earth, historically and on demand. The platform is built around smart phones, since they contain high-quality cameras and provide GPS data without needing a signal. The 20Echo platform uses the photo’s time and location to query its perennial database for the oceanic and environmental data associated with the exact location of your picture.
Before the platform’s beta testing was even completed, the company’s founder, Daniel Miers, was already working with The Billfish Foundation on harnessing the platform’s power to aid in conservation efforts. 20Echo became a sponsor of TBF’s tag and release program in 2017 and built a dedicated API that allows users to send their billfish echoes straight to TBF for research and conservation efforts. They are also working with tournaments like the Texas Billfish Classic to provide data to TBF for conservation.
The incorporation of this new data will bolster TBF’s database, already the world’s largest private billfish database, by giving anglers another tool to catch more billfish. Anglers can educate themselves on the precise weather and oceanic conditions where they released their most recent billfish, or one from years ago. More importantly, this inexpensive and user-friendly interface provides hard evidence to support conservation and management in fisheries policy decisions worldwide.
