Where the data comes from
Data sources & attribution
Every place in the FishAlert directory is built from public U.S. government data. We compile, deduplicate, and normalize these records into a single canonical directory — we do not alter the underlying facts. Each source below is credited where its records appear and linked to its authoritative license terms.
1.NOAA CO-OPS — Tides & Currents
Tide prediction stations (station IDs, type, reference). Powers the tide-station category.
- License:
- U.S. Government work — public domain. Provided "as is." No restriction on commercial reuse.
- Attribution:
- NOAA CO-OPS / Tides & Currents
- Authoritative terms:
- tidesandcurrents.noaa.gov/disclaimers.html
2.NOAA NDBC — National Data Buoy Center
Weather and marine observing buoys (station IDs, owner, type). Powers the buoy category.
- License:
- U.S. Government work under the National Weather Service — public domain. Bulk HTTP retrieval is the sanctioned access method.
- Attribution:
- NOAA NDBC
- Authoritative terms:
- ndbc.noaa.gov/faq/rt_data_access.shtml
3.USGS — Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) via The National Map
Named lakes and reservoirs (name, coordinates, feature class, gazetteer ID). Powers the lake and reservoir categories.
- License:
- Public domain — "no restrictions" per the USGS National Map terms of use. Acknowledgment requested but not required.
- Attribution:
- U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) — The National Map / GNIS
- Authoritative terms:
- usgs.gov/faqs/what-are-terms-uselicensing-national-map
4.Recreation.gov — RIDB (Recreation Information Database)
Federal recreation facilities with fishing/boating access. Powers the recreation-area category.
- License:
- Federal data in API Responses is U.S. Government work (public domain). Access to the API is governed by the RIDB API Access Agreement: register for a key, observe rate limits, do not imply endorsement.
- Attribution:
- Recreation.gov / RIDB (ridb.recreation.gov)
- Authoritative terms:
- ridb.recreation.gov/access-agreement-ridb
5.Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission — Fish & Wildlife Research Institute
Florida public boat-ramp inventory (ramp specs, surface, lanes, dock, hours, fee, managing entity). Powers the boat-ramp category for FL.
- License:
- Dataset is in the public domain; the FGDC metadata imposes an attribution use-constraint requiring acknowledgement of FWC-FWRI.
- Attribution:
- FWC-FWRI (Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission – Fish and Wildlife Research Institute)
- Authoritative terms:
- geodata.myfwc.com — Florida Boat Ramp Inventory
Ratings, reviews & photos
Where ratings, reviews, or photos are shown, they are surfaced from Google through a separate enrichment layer and stored in dedicated tables that can be purged without affecting the underlying government records. They are the property of their respective contributors and are not part of the public-domain government sources above.
Have a question about a source, or a correction to a record? Get in touch.