Data Management Plan (Deprecated)

Students Collaborating to Undertake Tracking Efforts for Sturgeon (SCUTES) is a collaboration between NOAA Fisheries, sturgeon researchers, and teachers/educators in an effort to learn more about Atlantic and shortnose sturgeon and promote sturgeon conservation. In order to learn more about the movement of sturgeon, we collaborate with researchers by providing them with some of the acoustic tags that are either inserted or attached to the sturgeon.

The data included in the SCUTES database is based on where SCUTES sturgeon researchers have conducted tagging and tracking studies (i.e., the location of acoustic arrays), as well as which tracking data researchers voluntarily submit in addition to those associated with the acoustic tags that NOAA Fisheries provided. All geographical data included in the SCUTES database has been collected from within the geographical area occupied by shortnose and Atlantic sturgeon. The “geographical area occupied by a species” is defined as: “the geographical area which may general be delineated around the species’ occurrences, as determined by the Secretary (i.e., range). Such areas may include those areas used throughout all or part of the species’ life cycle, even if not used on a regular basis (e.g., migratory corridors, seasonal habitats, habitats used periodically, but not solely by vagrant individuals)” (81 FR 7413). For both Atlantic and shortnose sturgeon, geographic data reflects only aquatic habitat.

Based on our review of the literature and other available data, we concluded that Atlantic sturgeon: Typically occur in marine waters within the 50 m depth contour, but also occur in deeper marine waters; occur in many coastal sounds and bays from the Maine/Canada border to Cape Canaveral, Florida; and occur in tidally-affected rivers along the coast. Similarly, shortnose sturgeon: Typically occur in the slower moving riverine waters or nearshore marine waters along the coast from the St. John River in Canada to the St. Johns River in Florida. As previously stated, the location of acoustic arrays is at the discretion of SCUTES sturgeon researcher. The data currently included in the SCUTES database spans from Maine to Virginia, however future data can be generated in any of the geographic areas described above.

Lineage Statement:
he SCUTES Coordinator will collect the latest tracking data annually from the sturgeon researchers that are partnered with the SCUTES program. The SCUTES Coordinator will then process and upload the new data into the Oracle database. The Oracle database is only accessible to NOAA Fisheries staff, so the SCUTES Coordinator will be responsible for downloading the data when an educator expresses interest in “adopting” a sturgeon. This process involves selecting a tagged fish from a river of the teacher/educator’s choosing, applying filters to remove irrelevant content (e.g., researcher’s name, station name, soak time) from the data, and downloading the data in a readable format (e.g., Excel, PDF) according to the teacher/educator’s request. The tracking data is then sent to the teacher/educator reminding them that this data is for educational purposes only.

Process Steps:

• N/A (Citation: N/A)

The SCUTES Coordinator will collect the latest tracking data annually from the sturgeon researchers that are partnered with the SCUTES program. The SCUTES Coordinator will then process and upload the new data into the Oracle database. The Oracle database is only accessible to NOAA Fisheries staff, so the SCUTES Coordinator will be responsible for downloading the data when an educator expresses interest in “adopting” a sturgeon. This process involves selecting a tagged fish from a river of the teacher/educator’s choosing, applying filters to remove irrelevant content (e.g., researcher’s name, station name, soak time) from the data, and downloading the data in a readable format (e.g., Excel, PDF) according to the teacher/educator’s request. The tracking data is then sent to the teacher/educator reminding them that this data is for educational purposes only.

Informal Data Sharing Agreement: Once a year, the researchers will share the tracking data from the

acoustic tags that NOAA Fisheries provided. At their discretion, they may share with us the tracking data

from other tags in addition to the NOAA fisheries tags. NOAA Fisheries has an informal agreement with

the SCUTES sturgeon researchers that the tracking information is used by the SCUTES program for the

sole purpose of providing teachers/educators with data sets for the “Adopt a Sturgeon” program and

that the distribution of the data will not threaten researchers’ proprietary interests (e.g., research

publication).

Processed data is uploaded into the Oracle database. Data is also protected from accidental or malicious modification or deletion by maintaining a data backup (i.e., Excel spreadsheet) of the raw tracking data that has been submitted by SCUTES sturgeon researchers on an internal network (i.e., GARFO H:drive). Additionally, individual sturgeon researchers store and maintain all data associated with their work at their respective institutions/organizations.