Privacy Policy

Account data: your email address, display name, and password credentials (stored hashed by our authentication provider).

Membership data: your membership status, renewal dates, and which regions you have activated.

Catch data: species, date, location description, measurements, notes, and the photos or video you upload as verification evidence.

Applications and signups: information you submit through the affiliate/operator application form or the Field Dispatch newsletter form.

Technical data: standard server logs (IP address, browser type, pages requested) used for security, abuse prevention, and aggregate analytics.

Payments are processed by Stripe. We never see or store your full card number. We retain only the identifiers needed to link your account to your subscription and region activations, plus the status and dates of those purchases.

To operate your account and membership, verify catch submissions, maintain regional leaderboards and standings, review affiliate applications, send transactional email (confirmations, verification results, receipts, password resets), send the newsletter if you opted in, and protect the platform from fraud and abuse.

We do not sell your personal information, and we do not share it with advertisers.

Verified catches may appear on regional leaderboards and in Shark FYVE editorial content, showing your member display name, species, region, and submitted media. Precise GPS coordinates are never published — location is shown at region or general-area level to protect fishing grounds and the animals.

Your email address, payment details, and account settings are never published.

We rely on a small number of processors to run the platform: our hosting and database/storage provider, Stripe for payments, and an email delivery provider for transactional messages. Each receives only the data needed to perform its function.

Account and catch records are retained while your account exists so standings remain accurate. Payment records are retained as required for tax and accounting purposes. Server logs are retained for a limited period for security purposes.

You may request access to, correction of, or deletion of your personal data, or ask us to remove specific catch media, by emailing Hello@sharkfyve.com. Deleting your account removes your submissions from public leaderboards. Depending on where you live, you may have additional rights under laws such as the GDPR or CCPA; we honor those requests regardless of location.

You can unsubscribe from the newsletter at any time using the link in any newsletter email. Transactional emails related to your membership are not optional while your account is active.

We use functional cookies and local storage to keep you signed in and to remember interface preferences. We do not use third-party advertising trackers.

The Site is not directed at children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect their personal information. Anglers under 18 participate through a parent or guardian's account.

Shark FYVE operates from the United States. If you use the Site from elsewhere, your data will be processed in the United States and other countries where our providers operate.

Privacy questions or requests: Hello@sharkfyve.com.