Increasing knowledge of salmon on PEI: data integration and education

Data Integration

Watershed groups on PEI have been doing habitat restoration for salmon for many years. They also collect large amounts of data on salmon populations and habitat, which is important for management planning on a watershed scale. To update future management plans for Atlantic salmon, PEIWA plans to gather these disparate datasets and create one dataset in GIS software to enable deeper analysis of data and help prioritize areas for future salmon habitat restoration and more strategic monitoring efforts moving forward.

Data from the previous three years will be integrated in this project (2023, 2024, 2025). In future, additional years of historical data will be added as resources allow. The database will be built so that it can accommodate future additions from watershed groups which do not currently have any rivers identified as having salmon. Tracking baseline data from non-salmon rivers will be an important source of comparative data to help understand why salmon are found in some places but not in others. Encouraging monitoring by non-salmon groups will increase the probability that salmon will be detected if they return to a river where they were historically present.

Providing watershed groups’ data to the project will provide an off-site backup of their data, preserving it in case of loss at the watershed group’s office. There are also watershed coordinators who have been working on their rivers for decades and have personally built up a deep understanding of the salmon populations on their rivers and the habitat factors in each river. As these coordinators eventually transition to a well-deserved retirement, incoming watershed coordinators will have the data available in an electronic format.

Training and support

To improve data collection and comparability across the Island, PEIWA has begun developing a standard data collection process for activities such as electrofishing. This process will allow easier movement of raw field data into the shared file system, such as by using FieldMaps or similar apps to directly input data electronically from the field. This process will be tested by watershed groups with varying levels of technical skills. Using feedback from groups, PEIWA’s  data technician will change codes in ArcGIS and FieldMaps to streamline the data collection process to optimize it for both usability in the field for watershed groups, and data functionality within the salmon dashboard. Watershed groups with salmon rivers will be trained on how to use the new data collection protocol and ensure that data successfully moves to the shared files as seamlessly as possible.