US Fish and Wildlife Works with Delta Systems to Enhance Understanding of Paddlefish Stocks

Learn more about the US Fish and Wildlife Service – Fisheries Division

National Paddlefish Stock Assessment Database

Assistant Project Leader, Joanne Grady, of the Columbia Fishery Resources Office (FRO) of the US Fish and Wildlife Department worked with Tom Slavens and Debin Benish of Delta Systems Group on the national paddlefish stock assessment database. The database contains the collective efforts of 22 state fish and game agencies in the Mississippi River Basin to stock, tag, collect and recapture paddlefish.

Unlike anadromous salmon stocks which were the basis for this tag study design, paddlefish do not routinely travel from their natal river to an offshore site and then return. Paddlefish have been documented to travel from South Dakota to Tennessee. Fish have been recaptured and assigned new tag codes at multiple locations and dates. The system that Delta built ties all those records together.

How Delta Helped Paddlefish Data Collection Efforts

Delta’s new code simplifies the linking of capture information which allows Columbia FRO to serve the database to the state agencies in user friendly Microsoft Access format. In return, Tom and Debin learned a lot about paddlefish, starting with what the fish actually look like! This project allows the Service to work with state partners to develop regional paddlefish management plans. Work on this project is an example of Columbia FRO’s commitment to the Service’s Fisheries Program Vision for the Future priorities of “Partnerships and Accountability”, “Aquatic Species Conservation and Management” and “Leadership in Science and Technology”.

View an infographic about the database and the accomplishment report from which we stole most of this blog post.

Delta Builds Data Tracking Systems

Since 1986, Delta has been building tracking systems for everything from napkins to insurance policies, from golf courses to hot dog ingredients, from horse ailments to yoga certifications, and from blood donors to paddlefish.

How can we help? Give us a call and discuss it for free.