Aquatic Informatics is pleased to award the Ripple Effect grant to the Upper Fraser Fisheries Conservation Alliance (UFFCA). The Ripple Effect is a software and service donation program that will enable UFFCA to build in-house capabilities for data quality management and reporting using the Aquarius analytics software.
The UFFCA is an indigenous, technical non-profit society that advances the collective interests of Upper Fraser First Nations in fish, fish habitat and fisheries, including the rebuilding of salmon stocks and sustaining fisheries for future generations. In 2015, the UFFCA partnered with Nechako watershed-based First Nations to identify priority systems and to initiate what is now one of the largest indigenous-led water quality and quantity monitoring programs in British Columbia, with 22 hydrometric stations on priority small streams and lakes. The data collected has already been used to directly support habitat restoration projects and flow management plans and fills a critical data gap to support ecosystem recovery and directly support emergency enhancement for at-risk salmon populations.
“This donation from Aquatic Informatics will help the UFFCA and partnered Upper Fraser First Nations to achieve full independence in becoming custodians of our own data and improving our ability to share valuable timely information with all our stakeholders so that we can efficiently protect our watershed and sustain healthy salmon stocks,” said Gord Sterritt, Executive Director. Salmon are central to the culture and identity of the Upper Fraser First Nations who have stewarded their territories for the protection of these species for millennia and continue to be key leaders in the conservation of these now-threatened species.
Ripple Effect is a software donation program for communities and organizations around the world that protect water. Each grant call has a theme associated so that a variety of organizations and communities can benefit from the different solutions that Aquatic Informatics has to offer in protecting life with timely water information. The next call for submissions opens in April, for more information visit https://aquaticinformatics.com/about/ripple-effect/.
