Overview

The First Investigation of Stream Health (FISH) data collection protocol is powered by the Water Reporter Platform. Water Reporter is an easy-to-use web and mobile application designed to make it easy to crowdsource information about local waterways. Contributing data to FISH is as easy as signing up for an account, providing some basic information to Penn State Extension to set up your monitoring site in the app, and entering data into a web-based form.

FISH helps you observe your stream over time and to compare your stream from season to season. It works best if you commit to visiting and monitoring your site several times over a few years. It is not intended for single use. You will see trend lines after 3-5 samples. Before you start monitoring, we recommend you print out the protocol and become familiar with the observations you will be making. Additional resources (like animal ID guides and definitions) are available here.

Step 1:

Complete this short survey to tell Penn State Extension you are interested in monitoring a stream or several. You will be asked to provide:

• Your name

• Email address

• Location

• The name of your planned monitoring site (if you have one):

  • FISH was designed for monitoring locations where a restoration project has taken place (tree planting, live staking, stream restoration, livestock exclusion fencing, etc.) It can also capture “before” observations if a restoration project is planned. Choose a monitoring site where you can see positive change over time.

  • Please provide a unique name for your monitoring station that includes the name of the

    stream (if known) and another point of reference such as an intersecting road, public park or landmark, or distinguishing feature. No personal names or inappropriate language will be used.

  • Location of monitoring site (approximate street address or GPS Coordinates in decimal

    degrees)

  • If you want to add sites in the future, just fill out the survey again and check the “I have

    a FISH user account and would like to start a new monitoring station” option.

Step 2:

After completing the survey, an email will be sent to you with directions on how to access FISH through Water Reporter. It may take 1-2 business days for your site to be listed as an option within Water Reporter.

Step 3:

Visit your stream and start recording your observations. Enjoy!

Step 3:

It may take a full business day for your account to be added to FISH. If you are in a hurry to report, you might try reaching out to the FISH admins using the “Contact Us” form at the bottom of this page. Once you’ve been added to FISH, you will see a “contribute data” button in your dashboard. To access your dashboard, click on the water drop circle in the top right corner of Water Reporter. (You do not need a paid subscription to access FISH.)

Log-in to your Water Reporter account on www.waterreporter.org. You will see your dashboard. Scroll down - if you've been added as a contributor the data source will appear in your dashboard under Data Sources.

Step 4

Each time you log-in to your Water Reporter account, return to your dashboard and find the “Contribute Data” button associated with FISH. Click “Contribute Data” and then click “Samples” in the left column To add a new site observation, click the green plus symbol in the top right corner. This will take you to the Edit sample page.

On the Edit sample page, follow the instructions and enter all of your data. Enter as much data as you can collect. You must enter something in the "required" fields before you can save the form. Be sure to click the green checkmark symbol (top right or bottom right of screen) to save and submit your form.