The Pacific Salmon Explorer is an online data visualization tool developed by the PSF’s Salmon Watersheds Program that provides access to baseline data relevant to Pacific salmon populations and their habitats. Using this innovative platform, the public can explore salmon data through interactive maps and figures and print status reports for individual salmon Conservation Units. The Salmon Watersheds Program convenes the Population Science Advisory Committee (PSAC) to help ensure that the methods used to assess Pacific salmon populations reflects best practices with respect to analysis and visualization of salmon data, as well as considers the diversity and complexity of salmon populations observed in British Columbia.

The PSAC is comprised of leading experts in the analysis and visualization of salmon data from academia, government, and First Nations organizations. In addition to providing guidance on the methods used to assess Pacific salmon populations, the PSAC also helps to identify critical uncertainties in our collective efforts to evaluate the status of salmon populations in BC. The PSAC seeks to address some of these uncertainties through strategic research projects that we aim to publish in peer-reviewed journal articles. The figure below provides an example of one such research project undertaken with the PSAC to explore how missing and/or uncertain data potentially biases the assessments of salmon populations shown on the Pacific Salmon Explorer.

Outcomes

• Identification and implementation of best practices in the analysis and visualization of salmon population data
• Identification of critical uncertainties in salmon population assessments and co-development of solutions for addressing uncertainties

Related Links

• Article: Evaluating the consequences of common assumptions in run reconstructions on Pacific salmon biological status assessments