Q&A

Member Central and Data Access

Can I access my CFL and MFL information through Member Central?

No. CFL and MFL information cannot currently be accessed through Member Central. At present, Member Central and the applications and services provided by DPIRD are not integrated. However, our systems have been designed to support future integration, and DPIRD is working towards enabling access.

Who do I contact if I cannot log in?

You can reach out to David Pietersen, the IT Program Manager at the Council by calling or messaging +61(0)417755186, or send an email to david@westernrocklobster.org with your first name, last name, contact number and MFL number. If you’re near Fremantle, please come into the office and we can help you.

Can I access all the Member Central features through a single login?

Yes. Your Member Central username and password provide single sign-on access to all applications available through the Member Central website. The same login details can also be used to sign in to the FishOps mobile application.

Is Member Central available on all devices including and/or web browser?

Yes, all platforms are supported via a standard internet web browser – so as long as your device has a web browser and an wi-fi or cellular connection, Member Central will be available. Most applications benefit from the use of bigger screens, like an iPad or PC.

Who will have access to my information and commercially sensitive fishing data?

Only you will have access to your raw data. This information will be used in tools we will develop to help you make decisions around where to fish, and to display your fishing activities and the relevant conditions.

The Council will use high-level, anonymised data to model oceanographic and biological conditions. The results will be provided to the Western Rock Lobster community as general information about the Fishery as a whole. Your individual fishing activities and commercially sensitive information will not be identifiable in this information.

Will my information be shared with anyone other than WRL?

No. Your individual information is accessible only to you. It will not be shared with other Members, DPIRD, or any other external organisation.

What safeguards are in place at WRL to protect my information from unauthorised access or disclosure?

WRL takes cyber security seriously and has implemented safeguards to protect information within the WRL Digital Ecosystem. These include a defence-in-depth security approach, network segmentation, role-based access controls, and activity logging and auditing.

You also play an important role in protecting your information. Do not share your Member Central username or password with anyone else. Treat your login credentials as you would your bank card PIN: keep them private and secure. Sharing your credentials may allow unauthorised people to access your information.

Back of Boat (BOB)

Can I amend catch data after it has been reported to DPIRD?

Member Central and other WRL Digital Ecosystem applications are not currently integrated with DPIRD systems. Any corrections to catch data that has already been reported to DPIRD must be made in accordance with DPIRD’s established reporting procedures.

DPIRD is working towards future integration, however, catch data submitted by the Master through FishOps to DPIRD (when available) is expected to remain subject to DPIRD’s existing reporting and amendment requirements.

Can I download a sales and payment report for my BoB sales on the day I go fishing?

Yes, the Reports page displays the Sales Report by default. Using the “Reports” menu, you can download each report by selecting the “Custom Date Range” option and selecting the date of your fishing trip.  You can use the “Group By” option to download a report by Grade or Size (Weight). Then select the “Download PDF” option and print the report.

Follow the same steps for the Paid Order Report.

How can I sort or search orders for a trip?

You can search for, or sort orders by, Date Range or by Trip. Select the Status “Pending/ Completed” and this will give you the full list of orders that are Pending (cash payment) or Paid (paid by card).

Can I choose to advertise my trips continuously, so lobster is always shown as available?

No. Continuous or permanent trip advertising is not currently available.

Each time you intend to fish, you will need to create a Fishing Trip in the Back of Boat website. To make this quicker, you can save a trip as a template or clone a previous trip. Before publishing the trip, ensure you update the Fishing Date and select the appropriate Time for Collection.

If a customer visits the website and no trips are available in their area, they can submit a Request Lobsters form. The request includes the customer’s contact details, the product and quantity requested, their preferred collection date, and the requested location. Fishers operating in the relevant location will receive the request by email and may contact the customer directly to discuss the order. Any subsequent communication or sale takes place directly between the fisher and customer, outside the Back of Boat website.

Will I receive a notification showing the quantity and grade of lobster ordered for the following day?

Yes, summary email notifications are sent around 11pm at the end of each day showing the quantity and grade of lobster ordered for the following day. You can also manually download a Sales Report showing the quantity and grade of lobster ordered for any trip.

Will the notification show whether the customer has already paid?

Yes.

Can customers access information explaining lobster grades, weights and sizes when placing an order?

Yes, if you are selling lobster by Weight, the size with the weight range is displayed in the Weight Information table on the order page.

If you have opted to sell by Grade, the grade with the weight range in grams is displayed to guide customers under the Grade Information table.

Can BoB use location services to identify fishers who are nearby when customers are placing an order?

This feature is under active development as part of Bob v2.0. The Council is working with our provider to enable this for you.

FishOps

Can FishOps provide information on points of interest associated with a pot, such as bait, soak time etc?

Each pot is tagged with location and soak time.  It also has other attributes such as pot integrity (kind of damage), pot number, depth (manual), no of pots on a line.

The data is held in the data base but not displayed at this point.  We can add additional attributes for a pot lift, such as bait, as requested.

Can FishOps provide accurate pot-drop locations using previous catch rates, seabed contours, swell and other relevant information?

Not yet. This feature will become available once FishOps has accumulated sufficient historical information from recorded pot drops and catch data.

To support accurate future recommendations, record your pot-drop locations and catch information each time you fish. Over time, FishOps will be able to use this information, together with relevant environmental conditions such as seabed contours and swell, to provide more informed location recommendations.

Can the FishOps App account for pots that have moved or are underwater due to surface currents?

While an active Fishing Trip is underway, you can record the movement or drift of each pot when logging pot pulls. This information will help you maintain the most accurate possible record of pot locations and estimate the locations of pots that haven’t been pulled yet.

WRL is also working with its partners to obtain relevant subsurface current data. Once available, this information may help improve FishOps’ ability to account for pot movement below the surface.

Can I view my own fishing effort, catch and abundance data on a month-to-month basis, is this information downloadable for my own use?

Yes, as long as you are creating and ending trips and capturing your catch information in FishOps.

Can FishOps be displayed or screencast onto a larger screen on my vessel?

This is dependent on your device. Most tablets and smartphones can cast to a smart screen if it is Bluetooth enabled. Work will begin soon to develop a PC based version of FishOps. Once developed, you will be able to use FishOps on your PC via browser.

How much storage does the app use on my device?

The Android download is approximately 60MB, and the iOS version is 80MB downloads. Once installed and the maps, weather, and catch data is synchronised approximated 150MB of storage will be used.

Will whale avoidance functionality be built into the App?

DPIRD is developing this tool with funding from the Council. This a feature will make its way into the app. The key element of this feature would be to provide notifications to all users of FishOps and potentially Trip IQ.

Can the system provide information to support decisions about where and when to fish?

Not yet. We are working with our technology partners to deliver tools that support decisions about where and when to fish. The first step is Trip-IQ, which provides weather forecasts up to ten days ahead. As more data is gathered, we will be able to add further tools.

Can fishing effort and location information be restricted so that it is only accessible to the individual fisher?

Yes, it is by default. Your login allows only you to see your own personal secured data. The same applies to other fishers – they only ever see their own data

Will individual fishing locations or pot locations be visible to other fishers?

No, they will not. You only see your personal secured data. Other fishers will see only their fishing and pot locations. Even if there is spatial overlap between fishers, no data will be visible or shared between fishers.

Trip-IQ

What weather and ocean information will be available through Member Central?

At this time, BoM Weather Alerts; Swell, Wind, Waves, surface currents and temperature; Astrological Tides, predicted reef locations, seabed bathymetry information, block numbers (10x10nm grid), WRL Fishing Zones, State and Commonwealth marine parks and reserves, and no-fishing zones such as no-take and sanctuary zones. The Council is working closely with our partners to introduce new features and data services.

Are water conditions such as salinity and water clarity available?

Surface conditions (salinity, sea surface temperature) are available. Turbidity (water clarity), seawater temperature at different depths, and ocean currents could be made available in the future based on demand.

Are moon phases, upwelling and other environmental conditions included?

Moon phases are available. Astrological Tide information is predicted at designated ports.  The Council is working towards introducing more detailed information along the coast. An ocean current model also represents broader ocean processes that influence currents, including deep-ocean circulation and upwelling.

Does Trip-IQ have the same user-friendly functionality displayed on iPad for the iPhone as well?

The iPhone will provide a much smaller screen while the iPad will provide a wider, more user-friendly screen to use. It is recommended that the tablet or PC are best for planning your trips while the iPhone with FishOps will provide weather conditions and alerts for the 24hour period that you are in an active fishing trip.

How far ahead are weather and ocean forecasts predicted, and how reliable are they?

We provide 3 day forecasts by default, which can be extended to either 5 or 10 days.  The data is updated as the global sources are updated approximately 1–6 hourly depending on the data type and their expected rate of change.

As with any forecasting system, confidence generally reduces the further ahead you look. Reliability also varies depending on the weather or ocean condition being forecast.

In FishOps the forecasts are for 24 hours, using the same information as used by Trip IQ.

Will Trip IQ remember my default or last-used location?

This feature is not available at this time and the Council is working closely with our partners to introduce new features.

How does the time bar in Trip IQ work?

Select the weather conditions that you wish to check, select your destination, then select the 3, 5, or 10 day forecast and click on the “Play” button in the slider. The weather conditions will change as the slider progresses through the period selected.

Can we use Face ID at some point to login, it is easy to login in but slow, when I look at the weather I want to get quick access to the info?

This feature is not available at this time, but will be investigated.

Trip-IQ is a lot like windy, the graphs in windy are really handy to understand and gives a quick and accurate view of the weather forecast…without waiting for maps to download.. is this a feature that can be added in the future?

This feature is not available at this time, but we are currently putting together the next phase of product developments and will investigate this feature.

SeaSafe and Training

Does SeaSafe support training and induction for new crew?

Yes, it does. There are a number of modules in the Introduction and it includes Safety Induction training. Any vessel-specific training must be done by the Skipper together with all AMSA modules that allow crew onboard.

Does SeaSafe provide training specific to the lobster industry, including setose, tarspot and second-grade lobster for new deckhands?

At this time the modules are aimed at Safety at Sea onboard commercial lobster fishing vessels.

Does SeaSafe include the required watchkeeping modules?

There are no specific watchkeeping modules. All AMSA specified and certified courses must be completed and the Council is working towards including these courses in SeaSafe.

Will medical emergency and first-responder information be included in SeaSafe?

The Council is investigating suitable courses and service providers to include in the SeaSafe LMS. Currently all Medical Emergency and First Responder courses must be completed in person with a certified instructor to obtain the required certification.

Can a skipper view the courses completed by his crew and an independent deckhand?

This feature is not available at this time, and the Council is working with our service providers to deliver this for all WRL Members and Operators.

How do we share the modules in SeaSafe for crew to complete, how do they login independently?

All crew can register and access SeaSafe training directly via the internet and are not required to register on Member Central. The address for direct sign-up is seasafe.westernrocklobster.org

WharfTalk

Who will be able to access WharfTalk, and how will access to commercially sensitive information be controlled?

Only members who have registered on Member Central, MFL holders and their up-to two delegates, will have access to Wharf Talk. A secure Single Sign-On facility will enable you to gain access to Wharf Talk from the Member Central site after you login. No public access is available. No commercially sensitive data will be shared through Wharf Talk unless a Member Central user shares information in this forum.