North Pacific Salmon Monitoring Inventory
Explore the Inventory: click a region on the map to learn more about monitoring in a particular area How well we understand salmon status and trends is a reflection of the quality of information we rely on. But in many cases, we don't know much about the monitoring data underpinning the analyses. To gain a better understanding of the salmon data landscape, State of the Salmon conducted the North Pacific Salmon Monitoring Inventory (the Inventory) from California to Japan.
We launched the Inventory in 2003 and wrapped up information collection in 2006. As we tested the Inventory waters in different regions over those years, we worked with several teams of consultants to create metadata (data about data) about long-term salmon monitoring efforts. We turned to a variety of public information sources, primarily regional databases, existing inventories and published literature.
The basic information we developed — such as field method, time series and sample design — is the heart of the Inventory. Interested individuals can access the Inventory to learn more about the type and utility of data issuing from management agencies' long-term monitoring efforts.
The North Pacific is vast and information becomes obsolete quickly, so we endeavored to validate the Inventory results where possible. We held validation workshops for the U.S. Pacific Northwest and Canada — resulting in an exciting series of expert-opinion-derived maps. Work is ongoing to finish the validation process in Canada.
Ultimately, a better understanding of salmon monitoring data types and utility will enable more effective use of existing information, advance standardization in data collection and management, and inform decision-makers about which populations should be targeted for expanded monitoring. The experience of conducting the Inventory and the resulting information has taught us that better understanding is possible by directing additional funds into data management itself. Greater investments in monitoring are arguably needed in many locales, but State of the Salmon is now working to address the important but underrepresented issues of improved data management and, consequently, greater data transparency.
See the Agency Partnerships Initiative for more information about our new focus.
More Information
See how we carried out the Inventory, how we define a "monitoring activity," and what questions we asked during the survey process:
Monitoring Inventory Survey Form (1.01mb pdf)
Salmon Monitoring Inventory Flyer (7.00mb pdf)
Explore Inventory results
Click a region on the map or from the list:
Alaska, Canada (B.C./Yukon), Washington/Oregon/California/
Idaho, Japan, Russia.
Explore results from the Inventory validation workshops.