Make Your ELOGs Work for You
Don’t just do ELOGs for the DFO, use them for yourself – our Harvester Notes give you value from your ELOGs.
For years, many harvesters have been keeping additional trip information in notebooks, on scraps of paper, in spreadsheets, or in the Notes app on their phones alongside their ELOGs. Things like:
- Weather and sea conditions
- Bait and fuel costs
- Buyer and sale price information
- Gear observations
- Reminders for future trips
- Details to compare season to season
Harvester Notes bring those details directly into Vericatch ELOGs.
What Are Harvester Notes?
Harvester Notes are optional notes that users can attach directly to their trips inside Vericatch ELOGs.
Unlike the information required for DFO reporting, Harvester Notes are designed for the harvester.
That means users can keep track of the operational details that matter to their business and fishing activity, while keeping everything connected to the trip itself.
And importantly, Harvester Notes are private to the user. They are not shared with the DFO, fishing associations, us, or anyone else. DFO officers will not be able to see your Harvester Notes when they view your trip information.
How Harvesters Are Using Notes
Harvester Notes are flexible by design. Different harvesters track different things.
Some users are already using Notes to:
Track Costs
Keeping those details alongside trip records can make it easier to review costs over the course of a season. Users can quickly record trip-related expenses like:
- Fuel costs
- Bait costs
- Maintenance expenses
- Crew costs
Record Landing & Sales Information
Users can also keep track of details like:
- Buyers
- Landing locations
- Sale prices
- Total sale value
- Species-specific pricing
For many harvesters, this information was previously tracked separately from their ELOGs.
Now it can live alongside the trip itself, making it easier to compare trips, track costs, and review what worked throughout the season.
Track Conditions & Observations
Harvester Notes also make it easier to record the conditions surrounding a trip.
Users can log things like:
- Sea conditions
- Fog, snow, or weather conditions
- Environmental observations
- Gear observations
- Reminders for future trips
Over time, many harvesters may find these records useful when comparing trips or seasons.
Built to Work Alongside Your ELOG
Harvester Notes are integrated directly into Vericatch ELOGs.
That means there’s no need to keep separate notebooks or switch between multiple apps while recording information.
Users can:
- Open Harvester Notes
- Tag the trip
- Harvester Notes will be saved separately from your ELOG trip
- Return to review it later
The goal wasn’t to add complexity.
The goal was to make mandatory digital reporting more useful for harvesters day-to-day.
Private to the User
Privacy and data ownership are important concerns in the fishing industry, which is why Harvester Notes were designed to remain private to the user.
Notes are:
- Not shared with the DFO
- Not shared with fishing associations
- Not visible to other users
They exist to help harvesters keep operational records for themselves.
Ready to Try Harvester Notes?
Harvester Notes are available now to all Vericatch ELOG users. Later this year, they will become part of our Premium offering, so now’s a great time to explore the feature and see how it fits your operation.
If you’re already keeping trip information in a notebook, spreadsheet, or on your phone, try moving those records into Harvester Notes and keep everything connected to your trip history in one place.
To get started, update your Vericatch ELOG app and access Harvester Notes from the left-hand menu.
A Better Way to Keep Records
ELOGs may be mandatory, but harvesters still deserve tools that help them run their operations more effectively.
Harvester Notes are another way we’re working to make ELOGs useful not just for reporting but for harvesters, too.
We’re looking forward to seeing how harvesters use them throughout the season. Please send us feedback or questions anytime!
