• The MARIS Partnership: Using Desktop Applications to Share Data Nationwide(Andrew J. Loftus)
• A GIS for Wetland Management Districts (Steve Kallin)
• Save Time and Resources with Efficient Database Management: Upgrading Legacy Systems, Integrating Datasets and Maintaining Metadata (Sheryl K. Soborowski)
• Marine Angler Survey Management and Reporting via the Internet (Wade H. Van Buskirk)
• WDNR's Aquatic Metadata Search on the Internet (Don Fago)
• Web-based Planning Systems: Guidance at Fort A.P. Hill, Virginia (Stacy McNulty and Robert H. Giles, Jr.)
• Seals, Satellites & Sandeels (Bernie McConnell and Mike Fedak)

The Wetland Management District Geographic Information System (WMDGIS) is an extension to ArcView 3.1 GIS software. Black and white orthophoto quadrangles (DOQs) produced by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) serve as the primary base map for "on-screen" digitizing of unit boundaries, habitat types and management accomplishments. Global positioning systems (GPS) are also utilized to locate features not distinguishable on the DOQ images.

WMDGIS has customized dialogs which enable users with limited GIS training to: easily access National Wetlands Inventory (NWI) data layers and DOQs; digitize new or existing habitat maps with detailed attribute information; plan, document, summarize and evaluate management activities; import and export GIS data layers; generate maps and report accomplishments.

Minnesota WMDs are implementing WMDGIS and currently are concentrating on data entry. Field staff with limited GIS experience are successfully using the system to create boundaries and detailed habitat layers. WMDGIS has potential to be a practical and useful decision support tool for the conservation of lands using the ecosystem approach to management.

Considering the investment of time and money spent on resource management projects and data collection, the need for efficient storage and retrieval of project data is readily apparent. Reducing the personnel hours spent manipulating data and improving quality of analyses is possible with a well-conceived data management plan.

Examples from two distinct data management projects assist in illustrating the problems, pitfalls and the rewards of undergoing a database upgrade. The first example represents a natural resource management solution employing user-friendly data entry and complex queries for analysis and the second is an inventory control system for hunting/angling license distributions with specific security and reporting requirements. The process of adopting an agency standard database software (Microsoft Access 97 tm), upgrading data residing in legacy formats to Access 97 standard, integrating the stored data to alleviate cumbersome data entry, creation of queries and reports to facilitate analyses, and production of metadata is shown. This process has increased the value of the data collected, improved the efficiency of analysis, freed personnel to accomplish other tasks or perform more complex analyses, reduced duplication of efforts, and allowed for easy dissemination of information to the public.

The initial investment of time and resources in developing an organized data management plan provides long-term benefits. A systematic data management systems provides an organization with the opportunity to protect their intellectual assets while standardizing to make data transferable to other projects and agencies.

Many operations of the sampling and estimation programs ahve been centralized on the RecFIN system. There our SAS database(s), http and HTTP servers are used by state supervisors to upload site sampling frames and sampler metadata, generate stratified random sampling assignments, monitor the quality and quantity of data flow, and generate metadata reports on sampling conduct. Fishery managers also have a selection of query tools available on the Internet to tabulate, summarize, plot and forecast catch and effort data.

These tools have significantly increased quality and timeliness of the data, reduced the need for responding to individual requests for data, and improved oversight of project conduct. There is now more time available to pursue other improvements.

This spring the Aquatic Metadata Search was moved to our Internet site:

Guidance is different from the traditional GIS in that the data and software resides on a server accessed by the user via a web interface. We integrated the Fort A.P. Hill database in Microsoft Access tm with ArcView Internet Map Server tm (a GIS with dynamic mapping capabilities). The Guidance menu acts as a table of contents, with hyperlinks to the original data, maps, metadata, and related information. The user chooses which species or physiographic data to analyze, selects database records, and receives a map or report, without knowing software or programming languages. We will illustrate how to perform queries, and generate maps and tables using Guidance. We will discuss the benefits of Guidance, as well as development and maintenance issues for web-based planning systems.

We have developed Satellite Relay Data Loggers (SRDLs) to follow the movements and behaviour of seals. These telemetry devices record depth and speed and use the Argos satellite system to provide location and to relay detailed dive information. Because seals spend much of their time underwater and satellite availability is limited, the effective data rate to the satellite is low. Thus, much effort has gone in to optimising the behavioural parameters transmitted, while maintaining high precision and low sampling bias. Location filters have been developed which reduce the Argos location error.

Successful deployments of many hundreds of SRDLs has lead to the, not unwelcomed, problem of assimilating and interpreting large and complex temporal/spatial datasets in an ecological framework. Thus, we have developed the MAMVIS visualisation system. Based on the UNIX AVS application, MAMVIS extracts data from an Oracle database and allows the animation of track and dive behaviour within a 3-D ecological landscape. The database is also interfaced to ArcView and SAS.

We present here, as a case study, an investigation of the effects of a sandeel (Ammodytes) fishery on grey seals (Halichoerus grypus) in the North Sea, UK. We also discuss the problems inherent in extrapolating from a sample of study animals to the behaviour of populations.