Capture of sampling data submitted as condition of scientific licence.

In 2008, DFO added a licencing condition requiring submission of fish sampling data to the BC Ministry of Environment (MoE) Fish Data Submission system (forms and instructions at: http://www.env.gov.bc.ca/fish_data_sub/ for freshwater scientific licences. DFO Kamloops office piloted use of this new condition. MoE managed data submitted using their service. MoE provided DFO with the data submitted by all MoE proponents having DFO licences, who had submitted reports to DFO. DFO tracked types of data submitted to the two agencies, evaluated the value of the data submitted and subsequently reported out, and documented issues.

There were two main deliverables of this project. First, this project was a pilot to test submission of sampling data from reports submitted to DFO using the provincial system. Second, an evaluation of the quantity and quality of data existing in report, submitted to the system and output from the system was completed.

It was demonstrated that the MoE data management system could meet the needs which DFO reports are currently meeting and likely more (e.g. the access to summary reporting and mapping functions). However, a number of outstanding issues remain to be resolved before it is recommended that all DFO offices use the new condition with the data submission requirement for freshwater licences.