Online Resources
Tools for fisheries professionals
Thousands of in-house reports produced annually by State and Federal agencies, tribes, and non-government organizations remain undiscovered by most researchers and fisheries management biologists, primarily because the reports are not published and/or widely distributed outside the producing agency.
These “gray literature” reports contain valuable information on management assessments, fisheries surveys, research projects, human dimensions studies, license and marketing efforts, and much more, including Sport Fish Restoration reports. Until now there has been no centralized online database that collects and makes available these fisheries reports.
The AFS Fisheries Gray Literature Database, available to all at no cost, allows rapid access to these reports from an easy-to-use central database, assuring the availability of substantial volumes of past and present work to fisheries scientists in North America and beyond.
Did you know the American Fisheries Society has a searchable website to find fisheries equipment and tech? The Center for Fisheries Technology is hosted by the AFS’s Fisheries Information and Technology Section and serves as a hub for useful products, software, and freeware/shareware. To keep up with updates, new tech announcements, and workshops from industry partners, sign up for the newsletter today.
This site is a companion for the American Fisheries Society book “Standard Methods for Sampling North American Freshwater Fishes”. The book, published in 2009, recommends standard methods for sampling freshwater fishes in North America. It was developed by 284 biologists from 107 agencies, universities, and organizations across Canada, Mexico and the United States. Increasingly biologists are adopting these methods so they will be able to compare their data to those collected by other organizations, in other regions or across time.
This web site is organized in four major sections. “About Standard Sampling” provides more information about standard sampling in general and how these techniques were developed by the American Fisheries Society. “Comments” allows you to comment on specific techniques so those working on future editions can incorporate your comments. “Compare Your Data With North American Standards” allows you to compare fish data collected from your water body to North American, Ecoregion, State and Provincial averages and percentiles. “Method Validation” shows you the latest research on the validation or “ground truthing” of specific standard methods.
Fishery managers rely on a wide variety of tools for the management and assessment of fish populations to maintain diverse and productive aquatic ecosystems and high quality recreational fisheries. One of the most valuable tools is rotenone, a chemical commonly used by fishery professionals throughout North America since 1947 to control fish and as a sampling aid.
This website provides access to the list of imperiled freshwater and diadromous fishes of North America as determined by the 2008 American Fisheries Society (AFS) Endangered Species Committee (ESC) on Fishes. Nearly 40% of the fish species in freshwater habitats are in some level of imperilment. At this website, one can view lists of imperiled fishes by freshwater ecoregion, by state or province boundary, and plot distributions of imperiled fishes by ecoregions or political boundaries. Lists can be downloaded for use in reports or analyses. There are also links to the Fisheries publication and other resources.
The snail part of this website provides access to the list of freshwater gastropods (snails) in Canada and the United States as determined by the 2013 American Fisheries Society (AFS) Endangered Species Committee (ESC) on freshwater gastropods. About 64% of snail species in freshwater habitats are in some level of imperilment and another 10% are considered extinct. At this website, one can view lists of native freshwater snails by state or province boundary, and plot distributions of snails by political boundaries. Lists can be downloaded for use in reports or analyses. While the committee did their best to define where snails occur or occurred in the past, much work still remains. We hope this website assists anyone interested in freshwater gastropods. There are links to the Fisheries publication, literature used to compile the list, online resources, snail recovery example stories, and other information.
The crayfish website provides access to the list of crayfish in Canada and the United States as determined by the 2007 American Fisheries Society (AFS) Endangered Species Committee (ESC) on Crayfishes. About 48% of the crayfish species in freshwater habitats are in some level of imperilment. At this website, one can view lists of crayfishes by freshwater ecoregion, by state or province boundary, and plot distributions of crayfishes by ecoregions or political boundaries. Both native and presumed introduced ranges are displayed. Lists can be downloaded for use in reports or analyses. There are also links to the Fisheries publication and other resources.
Online learning resources about fisheries and natural resources for professionals, students, and kids.
When the American Fisheries Society published “Fish Hatchery Management, 2nd Edition,” a number of companion calculators were made available online. Use these calculators to quickly determine length-weight relationships, unionized ammonia concentrations, and many other figures needed for day-to-day management of fish culture operations.