Click Here to access the National Wild Fish Health Survey Database
The United States Fish & Wildlife Service (USFWS) National Wild Fish Health Survey Database (NWFHSDb) has been available to the public since September 2001. The database contains data on pathogen occurrence in free-ranging (wild) populations of fish. This data is collected via the National Wild Fish Health Survey, initiated in 1996 as a collaborative effort among natural resource agencies. The survey is maintained and managed by the nine USFWS National Fish Health Centers.
Entering NWFHS data
The database is part of an effort to create an information system that will be a valuable tool for the management, protection, and recovery of aquatic ecosystems. The NWFHSDb consists of two distinct components: an internal database maintained and utilized by the Fish Health Centers for entering, tracking, and reporting data, and a publicly accessible website maintained and hosted by Montana State University (MSU), Environmental Statistics Group. Fish Health Centers export data to MSU for upload to the web server.
The NWFHSDb website maintained by MSU displays pathogen distribution information and is based on the Graphical Locater, a geographic information system (GIS) designed and maintained by MSU "for acquiring and refining location data and related measures". The website offers users the ability to obtain maps of NWFHS data based on user-defined queries. Queries are currently limited to date range (based on date of collection) and a combination of species and pathogen(s). Individual case reports are available for each returned record and selected fields from the entire result set may be displayed simultaneously for download and further analysis.