In 2010, the Council, Columbia Basin Fish and Wildlife Authority, NOAA Fisheries, and Bonneville Power Administration developed the Anadromous Salmonid Monitoring Strategy (ASMS) and asked the Independent Scientific Review Panel (ISRP) and Independent Scientific Advisory Board (ISAB) to review the document and supporting final tables referenced in Appendix F of the ASMS. The ASMS document will serve as an Implementation Strategy in the Council's Monitoring, Evaluation, Research and Reporting (MERR) plan that the ISAB and ISRP reviewed in May 2010 (ISAB/ISRP 2010-3). The ISRP referred to the ASMS document during its Categorical Review of Research, Monitoring and Evaluation and Artificial Production Projects (ISRP 2010-44A,B). This ISRP and ISAB memo draws from the ISRP’s impression of how the ASMS informed those RME and artificial production projects.
The goal of the ASMS as stated is to provide an efficient and effective monitoring strategy that integrates Viable Salmonid Population (VSP) criteria, habitat effectiveness, and hatchery effectiveness across multiple programs and geographic scales. The ISRP and ISAB found that the draft ASMS is a good start. It has potential to provide the regional managers and the ISRP with a framework and context for evaluating proposed projects. However, the draft can be improved to increase its effectiveness, and the ISRP and ISAB provide several suggestions in this memo.
