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FishSmart

The right fishing rules, right where you are

FishSmart is the official recreational fishing app of the NSW Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD). We have delivered and run it with DPIRD Fisheries since 2015.

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Two phones showing the FishSmart catch log: a map of the catch location and a list of recent catches with photos
Run with NSW DPIRD Fisheries
Since 2015
App downloads
350,000+
Rules and zones without mobile coverage
Offline
A recreational fisher in a wide-brimmed hat and jacket reeling in a line

Why It Exists

Printed guides could not keep up with the water

Coastal waters, inland rivers and offshore zones each have different rules for different species. Fishers relied on printed guides that went out of date and could not show which rules applied where they were standing.

FishSmart finds where you are and shows the rules for that spot: permitted species, bag and size limits and gear rules, with marine park zones, closures, fish aggregating devices and artificial reefs drawn on the map.

The FishSmart maps screen showing marine protected areas as coloured zones along the coast
Maps and Zones

Zone boundaries that match the law

Fishing zones come straight from the department’s own mapping, the single source of truth for legislated boundaries, accurate to about a metre across NSW waters, including around Lord Howe Island. Maps and rules are stored on the phone, so they work where there is no coverage.

A phone showing the FishSmart home screen with the latest catch photos from fishers
Catch Log

A private catch log, shared only by choice

Fishers can log a catch with a photo, species and location, keep it private, or choose to share it with DPIRD for fisheries research.

A phone showing FishSmart news stories and fishing videos
Updates

News and rule changes, sent by the department

DPIRD Fisheries staff publish news, videos, seasonal closures and urgent rule changes, and send them as push notifications to fishers who want them.

Diagram of the FishSmart data flow: legislation drawn as zone polygons with rules, stored in the department’s mapping platform, served to the app and cached for offline use

How It Works

One source of truth, from legislation to the app

Fisheries mapping specialists draw each zone and attach its rules in the department’s own mapping tools. The platform reads that data and turns it into maps and rules the app can show offline, so a boundary change reaches fishers without anyone entering it twice.

Authorised staff manage species, limits, news and alerts from a secure web console, with roles that set who can change what and an audit log of every change.

The FishSmart species list in the original Mobiconnect admin console on a laptop, beside a phone showing a species page for hapuku

Delivered and Run by Us

A decade of releases with DPIRD Fisheries

FishSmart was originally delivered on Mobiconnect, Mobiddiction’s platform at the time. We have run it with DPIRD Fisheries ever since, with managed services, Australian cloud hosting and structured release cycles.

It is developed and operated under Mobiddiction’s Information Security Management System, certified to ISO/IEC 27001:2022 by an independent, accredited auditor.

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