The state Department of Land and Natural Resources on Wednesday launched an app to make it easier for people to use their smartphones to report natural resource violations such as illegal hunting and fishing.

Users can upload photos and videos of suspected violations through the DLNRTip app and, theoretically, be able to communicate in real time with a Division of Conservation and Resources Enforcement officer and still remain anonymous, said Robert Farrell, DOCARE’s enforcement chief.

Tipsters also have the option of identifying themselves to help in any prosecutions, Farrell said.

Farrell said he’s particularly interested in reports of “illegal commercialization of our resources.”

“We do have a lot of land to cover and the only way we’re going to be able to do that is through citizen engagement,” Farrell said. “We need the eyes and ears of the public to help us out. So this is another way to allow them to contact us in a little more real time … and hopefully provide a quicker response. That is the goal here.”

DLNR receives 300 to 400 tips every month on its phone tip line. But there can be a delay in getting telephone tips out to the 90 enforcement officers spread out across the state — especially if the calls come in at night or over the weekends when no one is staffing the phone, Farrell said.

DOCARE does not have officers on call 24/7. So there still could be a delay in getting tips from the app to officers in the field, Farrell said. But app-based tips are designed to be routed faster to supervisors on each island and out to enforcement officers, who could theoretically have an anonymous two-way communication in real time with a tipster, Farrell said.

The app costs DLNR $8,000 a year, which Farrell said pales in comparison to the cost of trying to increase staff for the current telephone tip line, 643-DLNR (643-3567).

The app is one of more than 1,400 developed for law enforcement agencies around the country by Minneapolis-based Tip 411, said Tony Stano, an account executive for the company who spoke to reporters Wednesday via Skype.

The app is available for free via the Google Play Store and iTunes. DLNR officials said it will soon be available on its Facebook page and at dlnr.hawaii.gov/docare.