Status of Fish Data Standardization in the Southeastern US

Species distributions rarely follow geopolitical boundaries, and aquatic scientists are increasingly challenged to manage species on regional scales. However, freshwater fish community data are collected by various entities with little standardization.  The need for comparable data from different sampling and data management agencies has been identified as a priority to advance aquatic sciences in the Southern U.S.

Standardized data is not a new concept.  AFS technical committees have made recommendations since the 1980's to improve the ability to share data.  Many of those recommendations have been implemented in the Multistate Aquatic Resources Information System (MARIS;  www.marisdata.org).  However, a recent effort by SARP to define regional flow-ecology relationships using MARIS data illustrated deficiencies which greatly limited the results. 

The Southern Division AFS Warmwater Streams Committee (SD AFS WSC) and SARP recognize the need to continue improving data collection and reporting for aquatic species of the region.  Without improvement it is likely broader landscape scale research will continue to be hindered.  Results of a recent workshop and survey on fish data collection, management, and reporting standardization will be presented along with recommendations from the workshop for continued improvement of data collection and management standards.