SWAN Village-to-Village Messaging System: Feedback needed for Nunat fish database and observations

Feedback needed for Nunat fish database and observations

Posted by Lynn Zender on 8/22/2007, 7:10 pm
Message modified by board administrator 8/22/2007, 7:34 pm

Greetings everyone! See our other message for more about Nunat - Alaska Inter-Tribal Council’s website for villages to share fish and other subsistence observations, climate change, and mining issues (http://members.boardhost.com/SWAN/msg/1187837042.html). This website will start in a couple of months.
Nunat will have a “fish database”. This will be for villages to share unusual observations on fish they catch. Unusual can mean a discoloration, a different behavior, different location, different fish type, or a deformity, change in fish size, taste, smell, or how it dries. It can be anything about a fish that you or others in your community notice and would like to share with other villages. You will be able to upload a picture or video of the fish.
A database is like a form to fill out. Then the answers for all the forms that people submit can be looked up by users. For example, two questions on the form will be “what region was the fish caught” and “what type of fish?”. Then if you go to the database you can search for all the forms that were entered for a specific region and specific fish. You would be able to read the full forms about that fish type reported from that region.
In this way, villages will be able to see if what they are noticing is being observed by other villages. You will be able to access all the information that a village wants to share. The one thing AITC will not allow is exact locations of private subsistence sites. That way, no one can access your private information. For location, you will be able to look up by region of where the fish was caught, and people can describe general areas in their forms if they want.
The hope also is that this database will document that changes are happening. In this way, Villages, and Elders and other scientists can identify patterns that might provide answers or bring in money to look at the causes and help protect subsistence.
For diseased or deformed-looking fish, or unidentified fish, step-by-step fact sheets will be included on who to call, what to do, and what information you will need if you would like an agency fish scientist to try to identify the disease or cause.
This database is for villages to share useful information about their observations to help other villages. So we need your thoughts to make this fish database useful.
Which questions should be included in the form? Questions are what will make the database searchable. What would you like to know from someone that found an unusual fish? What will help you and your community?
Some thoughts we have are:
1) Region fish was caught
2) Fish Type
3) Date fish was caught
4) Water Description
5) What Type of Water? (salt, fresh, etc.)
6) How many fish were found on this occasion with the unusual observation?
7) What category of observation is this? (Multiple choice)
8) Did you find a deformity? Describe what it looked like.
8) Photos of the fish
9) What subsistence season
10) What did Elders say about the fish?
11) Describe in detail what is unusual about this fish and what you want to share.
Zender Environmental Health Group, a non-profit, is working with AITC and a graphic artist on developing the fish database. Please send your advice and ideas on the fish database or questions to nunat@zendergroup.org or Anne Jourdan, AITC Environmental Director, envr@aitc.org.
Mahsi', gunalchéesh, quyana, taikuu, qaĝaasakung, mahsi', háw'aa, way dankoo, gunalchéesh, 'awa'ahdah, tsin'aen, dogedinh, baasee', maasee’, tsin’êê, chin'an, quyanaa, igamsiqanaghhalek, thank you.

Lynn, Simone, Lisa, and Evelyn