State of the Salmon – Agency Partnerships Initiative (API)

Fisheries agencies and nonprofits working together to improve salmon data access

build knowledge across borders

1. go to agency2. ask for data3. get data4. apply to new research questions5. create new perspectives, change people’s

minds, save salmon.

easy, right?

d’oh

is there anything you can do about it?

sure?!

7

theory of change

demonstrateviral open source, scalable,

transferrable, extendable

8

objective

deepen agency capacity for data management

to help make data more transparent for

everyone

timeline

2007 <1 yr planning grant

2008 implementation grant received to start the API (3 agency projects + SalDAWG)

2010 grant period closes

ADF&G contact: Glenn Hollowell, Copper River Area Management Biologist

ADF&G Project Create web and database systems to:

• Make it easier for Copper River/ Prince William area staff to enter, edit, retrieve, and analyze escapement, age, sex, size and harvest data.

• Provide public access to frequently requested data and information.

2008-2010

DFO Project

• Ensure DFO researchers have ready access to standard, core information needed to assess biological status of CUs.

• Establish the groundwork for eventual public access to escapement, catch rate, and CU status information in BC and Yukon

DFO contact: Mark Saunders, Director of Salmon and Freshwater Ecosystems Division

Develop a summarized catch and escapement data set by Conservation Unit (CU) to:

2008-2009

14

Coho CUs in Pacific/Yukon

43 CUs

ODFW Project

Create a web application to:

• Make it easier for ODFW staff to track their progress towards meeting conservation goals for coastal coho. • Provide public access to frequently requested data and information on salmon and aquatic habitat in coastal Oregon and the Lower Columbia region.•Create a template for Oregon to track status of all salmon ESUs online.

ODFW contact: Jeff Rodgers, Oregon Plan Monitoring Coordinator

2008-2009

Salmon Data Access Working Group(SalDAWG)

Sample – partnership roles and responsibilities

Sample – partnership roles and responsibilities

we each have our own goals for the project

and product

• lack of leadership

• time < work to do

risks

ideas that seem to be working. . .

design projects so that “even if you fail a bit,

you still succeed”

ideas that seem to be working. . .

• tractable business need vision

• thoughtfully define customers and stakeholders

• define what you will and will not do/what product will and will not do

ideas that seem to be working. . .

deliver the chicken

and the egg

“Research cannot flourish if data are not preserved and made accessible.”

Editorial Nature 461, 145 (10 September 2009) | doi:10.1038/461145a; Published online 9 September 2009

messaging

messaging

investing in a process, not just products

biologists are biological experts

messaging

database developers are database experts

data preservation and access require multiple skillsets

“At least one of the people out there [internet users] has a smarter idea about what to

do with your content than you do.”

James Boyle

messaging

we gratefully acknowledge the support of the Gordon and Betty

Moore Foundation

to learn more, contact CathyState of the Salmon Project Manager 503.467.0791 | cathy@ecotrust.org

Photos courtesy of Wild Salmon Center and Ecotrust staff. Do not reproduce.