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Privacy Policy

Privacy Policy

Last Modified: 22 October 2015

1. Acceptance

Your privacy is important to us. This is why we have created this Privacy Policy (the “Policy”). It describes the types of information we may collect from you, or that you may provide, when you visit fishranger.com.au (our "Site"), as well as how we collect, maintain, use, protect and disclose your information. This Policy covers the information we collect on or through our Site, or when you contact us for any reason. It does not apply to information collected by any third party, including through any external website that may link to or be accessible from the Site. Third parties have their own privacy policies different from ours. Please check directly with each such third party to avoid unfair surprises and misunderstandings. Your visits to this Site constitute your acceptance of this Privacy Policy and our Terms and Conditions. If you do not agree with this Privacy Policy or the Terms and Conditions, you must exit our Site. This Policy may change from time to time, and the date of last update is indicated at the top of this page. Your continued use of this Site after we revise this Policy is deemed to be acceptance of the revisions, so please check this page from time to time for updates.

2. What information we collect

We may collect several types of information from and about users of our Site, including the following:

  1. Username, email, password and addresses.
  2. Data obtained from Facebook, Twitter and Google+ (e.g., likes, name, age and addresses).
  3. Analytical Site usage information collected via Google Analytics. This data may include the Site pages you view and other similar information about your behaviour on our Site.

We collect this information:

  1. Directly from you when you provide it to us (e.g. when you contact us for any reason).
  2. Automatically as you navigate through the site. Information collected automatically may include usage details, IP addresses and information collected through cookies and other tracking technologies.

3. How we use your information

We use information that we collect about you or that you provide to us, including any personal information:

  1. To provide the services you requested.
  2. To notify you about changes to our Site or any services we offer or provide though it.
  3. To allow you to participate in interactive features on our Site (e.g. our forum).
  4. To carry out our obligations and enforce our rights arising from any contracts entered into between you and us, including for billing and collection.
  5. In any other way we may describe when you provide the information.

4. Disclosure of your information

We may disclose personal information that we collect or you provide as described in this Policy:

  1. To fulfil the purpose for which you provide it.
  2. To contractors, service providers and other third parties we use to support our business.
  3. To a buyer or other successor in the event of a merger, divestiture, restructuring, reorganization, dissolution or other sale or transfer of some or all of the Site's assets, whether as a going concern or as part of bankruptcy, liquidation or similar proceeding, in which personal information about our Site users is among the assets transferred.
  4. We may disclose aggregated information about our users and information that does not identify any individual without restriction.
  5. For any other purpose disclosed by us when you provide the information.

We may also disclose your personal information:

  1. To comply with any court order, law or legal process, including to respond to any government or regulatory request.
  2. To enforce or apply our Terms and Conditions Terms and Conditions.
  3. If we believe disclosure is necessary or appropriate to protect the rights, property, or safety of the Site, our customers or others.

5. Cookies

Cookies are data that a website transfers to an individual's hard drive for record-keeping purposes. The cookie will help our Site, or another website, to recognize your device the next time you visit. For example, cookies can help us to remember your username and preferences, analyse how well our website is performing, or even allow us to recommend content we believe will be most relevant to you.

We may use cookies for the following reasons and purposes:

  1. To provide the services you requested. Some cookies are essential so you can navigate through the website and use its features. Without these cookies, we would not be able to provide the services you’ve requested.
  2. To improve your browsing experience. These cookies allow the website to remember choices you make, such as your language or region and they provide improved features. These cookies will help remembering your preferences and settings, remembering if you've filled in certain forms, so you're not asked to do it again, remembering if you've been to the site before, etc. We might also use these cookies to highlight site services that we think will be of interest to you based on your usage of the website.
  3. Analytics. To improve your experience on our Site, we like to keep track of what pages and links are popular and which ones don't get used so much to help us keep our sites relevant and up to date. It's also very useful to be able to identify trends of how people navigate through our Site and if they get error messages from web pages. These cookies don't collect information that identifies you. Analytics cookies only record activity on the Site, and they are only used to improve how the Site works.

Most browsers allow you to turn off cookies. To do this, look at the “help” menu on your browser. Switching off cookies may restrict your use of the website and/or delay or affect the way in which it operates.

6. Children’s privacy

We are committed to respecting the sensitive nature of children's privacy online. Children under 13 years of age are not allowed to visit our site. We do not knowingly collect personally identifiable information from anyone under the age of 13 and our service is not directed to children. If we learn or have reason to suspect that a Site user is under the age of 13, we will delete any personal information in that user's account or use that information only to respond directly to that child (or a parent or legal guardian) to inform him or her that he or she cannot use our Site.

7. Data security

Personal information you provide to us is stored on a password protected server accessible only by administrator. We adhere to generally accepted industry standards to protect the personal information submitted to us, both during transmission and once we receive it. However, we cannot guarantee the security of your personal information transmitted to our Site because any transmission of information over the Internet has its inherent risks. Any transmission of personal information is at your own risk. We are not responsible for circumvention of any privacy settings or security measures contained on the Site. You are responsible for keeping your login credentials, if any, confidential.

8. Accessing and correcting your personal information

Please send us an e-mail at support@fishranger.com.au to request access to, correct or delete any personal information that you have provided to us or to ask questions about this Privacy Policy. We reserve the right to refuse a request if we believe it would violate any law or cause the information to be incorrect.

Seeing two winds charts is like getting a second opinion. If there is consensus between the forecast models there is a higher degree of confidence those conditions will prevail.

The BOM and GFS models are independent. They are produced by different agencies and have different model physics so when they arrive at the same conclusion you can be more confident the forecast will be correct.

If the models differ on any given day and one says strong winds while the other says low winds then there is little consensus and therefor lower confidence in an accurate forecast on that day.

The BoM model is the model we have always used and is the model used by Meteye and Willyweather. GFS is the model used by many other weather sites including Windfinder, Buoyweather, Windy, WindGuru and others. In most parts of Australia the BoM model will be more accurate but there some areas where GFS may prove more reliable. Users should observe both over a period of time and determine which performs better at their location.

Technical Information
The BoM (ADFD) model has a resolution of 3km in VIC & TAS and 6km in other states, it covers Australia out to a distance of 60nm from shore. The GFS model has a resolution of 9km and covers the entire globe.

Note: In June 2019, thanks to a 10 fold increase in computing power, NOAA who produce the GFS upgraded the model to a high performance FV3 version. This change increased resolution from 13km down to 9km and improved model physics. FV3 is the version used by Fish Ranger.

Wondering why we don't we use the ECMWF 9km model? The BOM model is based on the 'EC' model so they have very similar model physics and are not independent. By showing BOM and GFS models we can present two high quality independent forecasts.

We use bilinear interpolation to provide forecasts true to the chosen location, be they on sea or land.

What is Solunar?

Solunar Theory states that all wildlife have periods of heightened physical activity that correspond with the locations of the sun and the moon. The theory was published by John Alden Knight in 1936 after years of documented and anecdotal research. The name Solunar comes from ‘Sol’ for sun and ‘Lunar’ for moon.

The theory found that aside from tides, the relationship of the moon and sun’s position also affected fishing effectiveness. When the moon is directly overhead or underfoot, rising or setting, fish are more likely to feed than at other times of the day. If one of these periods occurs close to sunrise or sunset then feeding activity is higher again, and if the moon is in a new or full phase then the highest activity of the month can be expected.

Major periods are defined as one hour each side of when the moon is directly overhead or underfoot, minor periods are defined as one hour each side of when the moon is rising or setting. The Solunar Calendar allows fishermen to better predict what days of the month and at what times of the day fish are more likely to be feeding.

Each of the peaks on the Solunar Chart correspond to a moon event - Moon Rise, Moon Set, Moon Above or Moon Below. The heights of the peaks are related to the phase of the moon and the proximity to a sunrise or sunset. According to Solunar Theory, fishing is more likely to be successful at the times of the peaks with higher peaks indicating better fishing.

One experiment that supported the theory was when Dr. Frank A. Brown, a biologist at Northwestern University in USA, had some live oysters flown to his lab near Chicago. Oysters open their shells with each high tide, and Dr. Brown wanted to see if this was due to the change in ocean levels or to a force from the moon itself. He put them in water and removed them from all sunlight. For the first week they continued to open their shells with the high tides from their ocean home. But by the second week, they had adjusted their shell-openings to when the moon was directly overhead or underfoot in Chicago.

Solunar tables need to be used along with common sense. Not every day will there be a clear relationship between fish biting and major or minor periods as other factors are involved which affect a fish’s willingness to feed. Barometric fluctuations, particularly when the trend is down, often make for poor fishing. All wildlife knows what to expect of the weather, and any bird, animal or fish can sense the approach of a storm. Cold fronts moving through drive fish deeper and render them inactive.

Adverse temperature, abnormal water conditions, and other factors all need to be considered as these offset the effects of major and minor periods, but when other factors are constant the Solunar calendar can be a good guide to identify better fishing days and times.

Fish Ranger’s Solunar Calendar is calculated individually for each location and all times are pre-adjusted for daylight savings so you can use the calendar with ease.

What is Dew?

Our Humidity & Dew chart shows two things - the relative level of humidity in the air and the times of day when dew is likely to form.

When relative humidity gets into the green zone at the top of the chart dew is expected to form on exposed surfaces.

Relative humidity tells us how much water vapour is in the air relative to how much vapour the air can support at its given temperature. Hot air can hold more vapour than cold air. When air cools at night, while the actual amount of vapour may not change, given the temperature is lower the air can't hold as much vapour and so the relative humidity goes up. When it hits 100% the air can not hold any more vapour and it becomes saturated. At this point vapour starts condensing out of the air and onto exposed surfaces in the form of small water droplets. These droplets are called dew.

Our chart has the green dew zone starting at about 95% relative humidity. Strictly speaking, dew will not form unless relative humidity hits 100%. Since there are micro climates of colder air in depressions, areas where sun doesn't hit like the cold side of a mountain, or on surfaces sheltered from the wind, their temperature can be lower than average and in these spots dew may form. So if the overall relative humidity is expected to reach around 95% then its likely dew will form in small patches. When it hits 100% dew will form over large areas.

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