Test - Inland Fisheries Information Systems in Texas

The Inland Fisheries Division of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWDIF) is a data-rich organization responsible for managing the freshwater aquatic resources of Texas.  A statewide inventory of databases in 1998 identified 85 unique types of data used regularly by TPWDIF staff.  Those databases and applications were developed as stand-alone systems located at district fisheries management offices or hatcheries to analyze fish population or production data.  While those systems quickly answered questions at the local level, aggregating the data at a statewide level required a considerable amount of time and maintenance to make it useful for researchers and managers.  The need for collections of real-time, accurate became more important for planning and dealing with resource management issues.  As technology matured, particularly the Internet, the infrastructure was in place to develop intranet-based applications accessible to TPWDIF staff statewide.  Today the data identified in the 1998 inventory are all part of a relational database management system which serves information via a web browser using Microsoft .NET web services.  This system has reduced maintenance, prevented duplication of effort, streamlined processes significantly, and made data available which was previously inaccessible.