Dr. Scott A. Bonar Lab
AZ Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit (AZCFWRU)
Standard Sampling Data Webtool to Help Diagnose Problems in Freshwater Fish Populations

The development of standard freshwater fish sampling methods and standard comparison data for fishery diagnoses continues through the work of over 500 freshwater fisheries professionals from almost 200 different agencies, universities and non-governmental organizations in AFS’s second edition of Standard Methods for Sampling North American Freshwater Fishes, which was published fall 2024. Part of this effort resulted in the development of a database containing standard sampling data that fisheries professionals can use to help diagnose problems in their fish populations. This database contains records from almost 15,000 surveys of 52 fish species in 54 states and Canadian provinces sampled with the AFS standard gear types. We developed an on-line webtool that allows comparisons of an individual fish population with summaries of this data, and how one might use the comparisons for fisheries management. Comparisons can be made simply by inputting waterbody type, standard gear type, catch per unit effort (CPUE) and uploading a data spreadsheet containing lengths and weights of fish from your waterbody into the webtool and hitting a button. The webtool then allows comparisons of your data set with range-wide, ecoregion and within-state data summaries of a fish species’ length frequency, condition and catch per effort. Short summaries such as these are important for fishery diagnoses similar to how short summaries of laboratory results are important for physicians diagnosing problems in human patients. A beta version of the webtool was completed September 2024.