Build capacity throughout the fisheries data ecosystem
Data-driven fisheries need people, policies, and infrastructure to support every step of the data life cycle. We think of the fisheries data “ecosystem” as the information network connecting everyone involved in ocean conservation and management and the communities that rely on a healthy marine ecosystem. Key partners are commercial and recreational fishermen and related business owners, scientists and fishery managers, State and Federal agencies, and fisheries technology companies.
The Net Gains Alliance builds capacity by:
Equipping people with the ability to innovate, ask questions, and work with data to build their data literacy
Facilitating cross-sector dialogues that bring together legal and technical experts and build public-private partnerships to create a common language and shared data goals
Collaborating with partners on trainings and other capacity-building projects
Monitoring and reporting on the state of fisheries data capacity
Current Initiative
Tracking NMFS’ Data Modernization Progress
NMFS has been working to modernize its data infrastructure, support a data-savvy workforce, and improve its knowledge products. NGA thinks it’s important to recognize progress as well as hold the agency accountable for its commitments. We developed the Progress Tracker to help the agency make its infrastructure investments more visible, and communicate why this work is important. We expect to report against these metrics in the summer of 2023. We’re also exploring how these national-level metrics could be adapted to report on data modernization at the regional scale.
Net Gains also issued a May 2022 status update on NMFS’ data modernization efforts, focusing on the agency’s work to implement a data governance framework. Data governance includes the people, processes, and policies that affect data throughout the data lifecycle, and is the essential foundation for a data-driven organization.
