Fish Management Data Wars: The Stream-Cred

Anadromous fish monitoring data collected in the Columbia Basin has four priority uses: it is used to make management decisions for the operation of the hydrosystem, it is used to measure recovery of ESA listed stocks, it is used to report on performance metrics mentioned in the BiOp, and it is used to prioritize anadromous salmonid mitigation projects.  Quantitative data carries more weight than qualitative data in these contexts, and over the years… anadromous salmonid data in the Columbia Basin has undergone rapid evolution, particularly in quality and in methods used to analyze it.  As in any field of scientific endeavor, better and better data has been subjected to more and more refined analysis, assumptions have been continuously questioned.  The increased emphasis on quantitative analysis has driven an exponential increase in the volume and precision of monitoring data, while management is driven by the need to analyze more data faster and faster.