State of the Salmon

Agency Partnerships Initiative


Utkolok Scientists with net
Photo courtesy of WSC staff

Information collected by salmon management agencies is disparate in type, format and sources. Data management systems are typically locally implemented resulting in datasets that may be distributed among many different offices, stored on individual hard drives, or circulated without any documentation explaining its appropriate uses. The net result is that information on salmon populations across the North Pacific is difficult and expensive to pull together — and by the time it is assembled, it is often out of date.

One solution to the twin problem of data management capacity and data access is collaboration. State of the Salmon created the Agency Partnership Initiative with three fisheries agencies in the North Pacific — Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G), Department of Fisheries and Oceans, Canada (DFO), and Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) — to break down barriers in salmon conservation and improve each agency's ability to share data.

Each of the three agency projects will better position fisheries agencies to manage for healthy salmon stocks by increasing internal work efficacy, improving systems interoperability, enhancing public understanding, and accelerating future investments in additional data management and access systems where needed.



  Extranet Login

Sign in here for documents, discussion, events and more related to your agency initiative (ADFG, DFO, ODFW) and for the Salmon Data Access Working Group (SalDAWG).

      

Salmon Data Access Working Group (SalDAWG)

We are convening a Salmon Data Access Working Group (SalDAWG) in lockstep with the three projects in order to guide their development. This is an exceptional chance to convene specialists in the fields of data management, web and database design, as well as salmon research and management in an applied context. We aim to enhance collaboration among practitioners across North America and provide a foundation for increased standardization across jurisdictions.

The group is sharing existing work done in the areas of data architecture, database design, and data visualization so as to advise on the appropriateness of available standards and tools for use in the proposed projects. For example, although data should conform to national or universal standards such as FGDC or NBII metadata standards, this initiative offers a unique opportunity to review and apply standards specific to salmonid monitoring and stock evaluation that have been developed by others.

Current SalDAWG membership list. (11kb pdf)

Proposed meeting schedule:

Are you a SalDAWG member? More information like presentations and meeting details as well as tools for on-line collaboration will be available here.

For more information about the Agency Partnerships Initiative, at 503.467.0791

Project Overviews

Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife

We're working with the ODFW Research Lab in Corvallis to develop a web-based data serving and visualization tool for coho, steelhead, and aquatic habitat information in coastal Oregon and the lower Columbia River to satisfy ODFW business needs as well as improve information sharing and understanding among stakeholder groups. View scope of work diagram.»

Department of Fisheries and Oceans, Canada

We're working with DFO staff at the Pacific Biological Station in Nanaimo to develop salmon escapement and catch information to support research and assessment needs of the Wild Salmon Policy. View scope of work diagram.»

Alaska Department of Fish and Game

We're working with ADF&G's Copper River and Prince William Sound Commercial Fisheries staff in Cordova to rescue historic salmon escapement and age, sex and length (ASL) data in the Copper River and Prince William Sound area of Alaska and develop web-based data management and visualization tools. This work aims to increase ADF&G data management capacity, support in-season fisheries management decision-making, as well as improve information sharing and understanding among a variety of stakeholder groups. View scope of work diagram.»

YOU ARE HERE: stateofthesalmon.org » Initiatives » Agency Partnerships