Appendix 2: Training Roadmap for Salmon Biologists Transitioning to Data Stewardship

This roadmap organizes training into three levels so biologists can build stewardship capacity in stages while applying skills directly to salmon data work.

Level	Suggested timeline	Primary goal
Beginner	0-3 months	Build core stewardship literacy and governance habits
Intermediate	3-9 months	Publish interoperable, citable salmon data products
Advanced	9+ months	Lead operational stewardship programs across teams

Beginner (0-3 months): Core stewardship literacy

Focus: establish a shared language for governance, metadata, and responsible data use.

• Principles and core readings
  • FAIR Data Principles
  • CARE Principles for Indigenous Data Governance
  • Wilkinson et al. 2016, FAIR Guiding Principles
  • Carroll et al. 2019, Indigenous Data Governance
• Governance and planning tools
  • DMPTool templates
  • DACI framework
• Foundational skills training
  • Data Carpentry Lessons
  • DataONE

Beginner SDIS starter tasks (salmon-domain):

• Read the Salmon Data Package specification.
• Treat the Salmon Domain Ontology as the canonical interoperability layer, then review the DFO Salmon Ontology as an organization-specific ontology and controlled vocabulary set aligned to that broader layer.
• Explore metasalmon documentation to understand package structure and metadata expectations.

Intermediate (3-9 months): Interoperable publication and integration

Focus: move from internal data handling to publishable, reusable data products.

• Metadata and semantic standards
  • ISO geospatial metadata overview (FGDC)
  • Ecological Metadata Language (EML)
  • Darwin Core
• Persistent identifiers and credit
  • DataCite
  • DataCite REST API intro
  • ORCID
  • ROR
• Repository and API practice
  • NPAFC data catalogue
  • PTAGIS API
  • NPAFC CKAN API example
  • Zenodo + GitHub citation guidance

Intermediate SDIS practicum tasks (salmon-domain):

• Build one versioned dataset package using metasalmon + the Salmon Data Package specification.
• Map at least 10 core fields to the Salmon Domain Ontology first, then use the DFO Salmon Ontology where organization-specific controlled vocabularies are needed.
• Publish a release with persistent metadata and DOI-backed citation text.

Advanced (9+ months): Operational stewardship leadership

Focus: institutionalize stewardship as an ongoing organizational capability.

• Monitoring, incentives, and reporting
  • COUNTER metrics
  • DataCite API
• Community co-development and governance coordination
  • RDA Salmon Research and Monitoring Interest Group
  • PNAMP/AFS “Fishing for Clarity” workshop example
  • User-centred design reference (Interaction Design Foundation)

Advanced SDIS capstone (salmon-domain):

• Operate an end-to-end stewardship cycle (governance, packaging, validation, publication, citation, and reuse monitoring) for a recurring salmon data product.
• Produce a quarterly stewardship report that summarizes metadata quality, release cadence, and reuse indicators.

This progression is intended to be practical rather than prescriptive: teams can adjust pace and tooling while keeping the same capability milestones.