Research about Illinois;Iowa;Minnesota;Montana;Wisconsin

USGS2014

Long Term Resource Monitoring Program procedures: fish monitoring

This manual constitutes the second revision of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Upper Mississippi River Restoration-Environmental Management Program (UMRR-EMP) Long Term Resource Monitoring Program (LTRMP) element Fish Procedures Manual. The original (1988) manual merged and expanded on ideas and recommendations related to Upper Mississippi River fish sampling presented in several early documents. The first revision to the manual was made in 1995 reflecting important protocol changes, such as the adoption of a stratified random sampling design. The 1995 procedures manual has been an important document through the years and has been cited in many reports and scientific manuscripts. The resulting data collected by the LTRMP fish component represent the largest dataset on fish within the Upper Mississippi River System (UMRS) with more than 44,000 collections of approximately 5.7 million fish. The goal of this revision of the procedures manual is to document changes in LTRMP fish sampling procedures since 1995. Refinements to sampling methods become necessary as monitoring programs mature. Possible refinements are identified through field experiences (e.g., sampling techniques and safety protocols), data analysis (e.g., planned and studied gear efficiencies and reallocations of effort), and technological advances (e.g., electronic data entry). Other changes may be required because of financial necessity (i.e., unplanned effort reductions). This version of the LTRMP fish monitoring manual describes the most current (2014) procedures of the LTRMP fish component.

Illinois;Iowa;Minnesota;Montana;Wisconsin↗

USGS2014

Monitoring rationale, strategy, issues, and methods: UMRR-EMP LTRMP fish component

The Long Term Resource Monitoring Program (LTRMP), an element of the multiagency partnership Upper Mississippi River Restoration-Environmental Management Program, has been monitoring fishes in the Upper Mississippi River System (UMRS) for over two decades, using scientific and highly standardized methods. Today, the LTRMP’s data assets represent one of the world’s largest and most extensive datasets on a great river. Methods and procedures used over the past two decades have been documented and have proven a key tool towards gaining data that are (a) scientifically valid, (b) comparable over time, and (c) comparable over space. These procedures manuals coordinate and standardize methods, procedures, and field behaviors in the execution of long-term monitoring, permitting the informed management and control of important sources of error actually under program control. As LTRMP databases have matured in scope and accumulated more years' worth of data, their utility in research and management in the UMRS basin has increased notably. To maximize their utility, data users need not only be aware of “how the data were collected,” as portrayed in the procedures manuals, but also “why the data were collected in the way they were, at the scales they were, and in the manner that they were.” Whereas the procedures manuals contribute information as to the “how” the data were gained, this document seeks to contribute information as to the “why.” As such, this document is intended to be a companion document to the procedures manuals. Herein, we present information on the rationale for monitoring nearly one-fifth of the entire North American freshwater fish fauna (representing the greatest freshwater fish diversity on the planet at temperate latitudes); strategies employed and their reasoning; and discussions on issues associated with the sampling design itself, data arising therefrom, and uses of those data in different contexts.

Illinois;Iowa;Minnesota;Montana;Wisconsin↗