Terms of Service

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account. By signing up you confirm that you are. If you are creating an account on behalf of an organisation, you confirm that you have authority to bind it to these Terms.

• You are responsible for keeping your password confidential.
• You are responsible for everything that happens under your account.
• You may only have one account; we may terminate duplicate or impersonating accounts.
• Notify us at support@sardinewatch.co.za if you suspect unauthorised use of your account.

You can report sardine sightings (text, location, optional photo), comment on other people's sightings, and react to them with likes. You retain ownership of the content you submit, but you grant us a worldwide, royalty-free, non-exclusive licence to host, display and distribute it within the Service so other users can see it.

You agree not to submit content that is:

• unlawful, defamatory, threatening, obscene, hateful or harassing;
• infringing on anyone else's copyright, trademark, or privacy;
• misleading — e.g. false sighting reports designed to send fellow users on a fool's errand;
• spam, advertising, or unsolicited promotion;
• containing personal information about identifiable people (other than yourself) without their consent;
• malware, scraping scripts or anything that interferes with the Service.

We may remove any content that breaches these rules and may suspend or terminate accounts that repeatedly do so.

When you upload a photo with a sighting, you confirm that you took the photo yourself (or have the rights to share it), and that no identifiable person in the photo objects to it being published in the Service.

Note that GPS or other metadata embedded in your photo (EXIF) may be visible to other users when they download the image. Strip it beforehand if that is a concern.

Sardine Spotter is a community reporting tool. We do not verify individual sightings. We make no promises about the accuracy, timeliness or completeness of information on the Service. Do not rely on a sighting as your only basis for decisions involving safety, livelihood, or significant financial commitment. Always corroborate with lifeguards, the National Sea Rescue Institute, or local authorities before entering the water.

You agree not to:

• scrape, crawl, or bulk-download data from the Service without our prior written permission;
• attempt to access another user's account or any non-public part of the Service;
• probe for security vulnerabilities (responsible disclosure is welcome — email us first);
• use the Service to send unsolicited communications;
• resell or commercialise the Service in any form.

If you opt in, we will send push notifications to your browser or device for new sightings, comments and likes. You can opt out at any time in Settings → Push Notifications.

We provide the Service “as is” and on a best-effort basis. We may add, change or remove features at any time without notice. We may interrupt the Service for maintenance, upgrades, or to address security issues.

You can delete your account at any time via Settings → Account → “Delete my account”. Your profile data is removed within 30 days. We may suspend or terminate your account if you materially breach these Terms, with notice if reasonably possible.

To the maximum extent permitted by South African law, we exclude all implied warranties and conditions regarding the Service. We do not warrant that the Service will be uninterrupted, secure, or error-free.

Our total liability to you under these Terms, regardless of the cause of action, is limited to ZAR 1,000 (one thousand rand). In no event will we be liable for indirect, consequential, special or punitive damages, including lost profits, lost data, or loss of business. Nothing in these Terms limits any non-excludable rights you have under the Consumer Protection Act, 2008.

You agree to indemnify and hold us harmless from any claim brought by a third party arising out of (a) your breach of these Terms, (b) your content, or (c) your misuse of the Service.

These Terms are governed by the laws of the Republic of South Africa. You and we submit to the non-exclusive jurisdiction of the South African courts.

We may update these Terms from time to time. We will tell you about material changes by email or in-app at least 14 days before they take effect. Continued use of the Service after that means you accept the new Terms.

Questions about these Terms? Email us at support@sardinewatch.co.za.

Need a refresher on what data we collect? See our Privacy Policy.