FWMIS – Overview | Alberta.ca

Overview

The Government of Alberta maintains a central repository for extensive, reliable fish and wildlife inventory data. FWMIS is an important knowledge base for fisheries and wildlife management and conservation. FWMIS data is collected by:

educational institutions
government
individuals
industry
museums
private consulting companies

Accessing FWMIS data

You can access FWMIS data by:

viewing it online using the Fish and Wildlife Internet Mapping Tool (FWIMT)
requesting data in your area of interest from your regional Fish and Wildlife biologist

For full details, see:

Access FWMIS Data

Using FWMIS data

FWMIS data is used to conserve and manage Alberta’s wild species and their habitats. When using the data, please note that:

redistribution of raw data is prohibited
you agree to submit any observations of fish and wildlife occurrences that you record
FWMIS data is not a complete record of all fish and wildlife observations available
many areas in Alberta have not had a comprehensive species inventory

For more details, review the document, Fish and Wildlife Management Information System (FWMIS) Statement Regarding Use of Data, located at:

Access FWMIS Data

Secured and sensitive data

Following accepted guidelines, the locations of the following types of species and their habitats will be kept secure:

endangered
threatened
selected vulnerable

Specific locations will be generalized within appropriate limits, so that the exact location cannot be identified. External individuals and organizations will receive only generalized data unless they can demonstrate need. The specific locations of secured records are not to be published in any form without the express written consent of Fish and Wildlife.

Fish and Wildlife report tool

Wildlife species observations are not displayed as point locations within the Fish and Wildlife Internet Mapping Tool (FWIMT) due to the sensitivity of identifying specific locations. However, wildlife species information is displayed in the reports generated by the Fish and Wildlife report tool. It summarizes all fish and wildlife inventories and species that have been submitted to FWMIS for a user-defined area.

Referencing FWMIS data

Data stored in FWMIS originates from multiple sources. Source credit will be given with any data distributed from FWMIS. This credit must be acknowledged by all users of the data.

Example Format:

Reference Author(s). Reference Year. Reference Title. Retrieved month-day-year from the Fish and Wildlife Management Information System, Alberta Environment and Protected Areas.

Buell, Z., R. Timonsteen, and D. Loray. 2001. Biodiversity of wildlife in the Youngman drainage of Alberta. Retrieved Dec-16-2022 from the Fish and Wildlife Management Information System, Alberta Environment and Protected Areas.

Submitting FWMIS data

The information you collect is an important contribution to the knowledge base for everyone.

Excluding sensitive data, your submitted data may be provided to others in future data requests. It may also be viewable on FWIMT for fisheries and wildlife management and conservation.

Types of data that can be submitted include:

required standard inventory data such as:
- date
- location
- species
digital data such as:
- images
- PDF reports

How to submit data

You can submit data through online loadforms or by email.

Online loadforms

Enter your fisheries and/or wildlife sighting and collection information into the appropriate FWMIS loadform. The FWMIS Data Submission Guide will provide information and tips for entering data. To find the loadforms and guide, see:

The input must conform to certain database rules. It is important not to edit or manipulate the loadforms as FWMIS reads the Excel loadforms directly.

You must download a new loadform for each submission, as the loadforms are continually being updated. This will avoid corrupting the worksheets by copying over old data or accidentally submitting the same data twice.