Institutional Recommendation 9

Coordinated Information Management

Make research and monitoring data available through a coordinated information system.

Current Status

An information system was part of the Research, Monitoring and Evaluation section of the original 1995 Plan. The Plan called for the continuation and expansion of the project then referred to as the Coordinated Information System. The project has continued; and the data management goals described in 1995 are now much closer to realization. Today a very open and collaborative approach is improving data management and sharing among agencies.

At this time, however, the tribes do not receive any funding from the StreamNet project for data management or data sharing. To address this need, the Tribal Data Network project began under the Columbia Basin Fish Accords. The project is being expanded to provide partial support for staff positions at each tribe in addition to the original intent of delivering high-level database and data system design and application development.

The primary goal of the Tribal Data Network project, funded by the Accords, is to assist CRITFC member tribes with monitoring data management by building tools and capacity within each tribe. The Tribal Data Network project (TDN) has built infrastructure and initiated pilot programs, which implement tools and develop capacity for monitoring data management within member tribes.

The TND project plans to expand these pilot programs across all four-member tribes as opportunities arise. Currently the project is developing new pilot programs and is adapting the juvenile migrant data exchange system developed by the Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission for use in the Columbia Basin.

Despite encouraging progress to date, only limited and inadequate support for basic tribal data management capacity exists. Unlike state agencies, the tribes have not received regular annual funding under the StreamNet project. Only temporary funding has been obtained to partially meet tribal Tier 1 data management needs identified under the Coordinated Assessment project.

Near-term priorities for the project are to assist the tribes in developing better data management tools for juvenile and adult abundance, improved harvest estimates and improved PIT- and coded-wire tag data.

Long-term priorities for the project are seeking additional funding to build capacity within member tribes through development of data management tools, provision of one-time infrastructure purchases, acquisition of data processing expertise and coordination, and funding assistance for staff positions with each of the four tribes.

Assessment

Good progress is being made and present plans should be continued.

New and Modified Actions

  • Seek full support to implement tribal data management programs and strategies.
  • Continue to develop and implement improved data management practices in coordination with other regional natural resource managers.
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