Native Salmonid Conservation Facility (NSCF) Westslope Cutthroat Trout Platform
We designed and built a new custom database and a user-friendly website for SCL to manage a captive fish breeding pilot at NSCF. Key tasks the platform supports includes; supporting hatchery staff to log fish collection, demographics, and spawning data directly, and using a spawning matrix to make efficient, genetics-informed spawning decisions in real time.
We've continued to support and expand the platform since launch, including new tools to manage post-spawning data.
CLIENT
Seattle City Light (SCL)
STARTED
2024
LINK
THE CHALLENGE
Lack of unified data made real‑time, genetics‑based pairing decisions difficult and time-consuming
Before the platform existed, NSCF staff had no shared system for capturing key data that the captive breeding pilot program depended on, including fish collection events, demographics, tank locations, spawning activity, PIT tag detections, and genetic sampling results. Without this, it was challenging and time-consuming for staff to make efficient, real-time, data-backed decisions on which fish to pair for spawning based on their genetic profiles.
PROCESS
Building a working platform through collaborative, field‑informed design
We worked closely with SCL and NSCF staff to document requirements, then moved from wireframes to a clickable prototype to a working platform built around observational data on how the team actually operates in the field and at the hatchery.
RESULT
A single home for all pilot‑year data: entry, ingest, and safe spawning‑matrix insights
The platform now gives staff a single home for pilot-year data; automatic ingest of lab and tag-detection results to import fish events and genetic data, user-friendly data editability for life history events, demographics, and spawning activity; and a dedicated spawning-matrix page that flags safe pairings using compatibility criteria supplied by the Molecular Genetics Laboratory (MGL) at the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW).
Staff have found the system user-friendly, and integral in reducing the time and effort required to manage their data. This has supported the team to make efficient, more confident real-time decisions based on their data.
FUTURE
Supporting NSCF and SCL as the program grows, with platform upgrades and new tools
We'd welcome the opportunity to work with NSCF staff, SCL staff and partners to upgrade the existing platform and drive development of new data management tools, as SCL's program grows.
Photos by Al Solonsky