ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources is working with University of Minnesota researchers to come up with a smartphone application for anglers.

Minnesota Public Radio News reports the free app, iFish Minnesota, would allow anglers log what they're catching, how big and where.

The DNR wants to gauge how fishing affects lakes and to ensure fish populations can reproduce.

Melissa Treml, fisheries research and policy manager for the DNR, says that has long involved someone going out and interviewing hundreds of anglers on large lakes in the state.

After a year of data collection, researchers will compare the app data with their traditional data-collection methods.

Similar apps are being used in Alberta, Canada, Denmark and Florida.

Treml says the DNR won't share anglers' secrets.

More From US 103-3