American Fisheries Society - Western Native Fishes Database
Background
In 2002, the Western Division of the American Fisheries Society (WDAFS) formed a committee focused on Western native fishes. In 2003, the Western Native Fishes (WNF) Committee
developed the concept of a database to track native fish distribution across the
entire WDAFS territory. The WNF Project has collected species data that now provides a definitive summary of the current status of inland native fishes including: an evaluation of their current distribution and status relative to prior assessments; the identification of key remaining habitat areas (refugia)
for each species; and identification of key issues of concern for each species. The information used in the WNF Project
is based on a review of existing status documents, information provided by the states, and surveys of local experts.
Western Native Fishes Coverage Area (click for larger version in new window)
Coverage Area
The WNF database includes all described native species known to exist in the Western region, which includes the states of Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho,
Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming, the provinces of
British Columbia and Yukon, and the Mexican states of Chihuahua, Sonora, and Baja California
Norte. The WNF Committee identified 292 freshwater fish species native to the WDAFS territory, and these species became the focus of the project. Anadromous species were, for the most part,
excluded from the scope of the project. Nomenclature was based on Nelson et al. 2004. The species represent 37 families and 115 Genera.
Incorporating the WNF data into the NFDI framework
The WNF database reports historic and current fish species presence at the HUC8 level, thus matching the
target resolution of NFDI. Since NFDI's focus area is currently limited to the United States, fish distribution data in the WNF database from outside the United States (Mexico and Canada)is not presently represented in NFDI.