Using U.S. and Canadian Atlantic Research Trawl Surveys to Lead Development of a Standards Based Ocean Observing System R. Branton 1, J. Black 1, J. McRuer 1, M. Fogarty 2 1 Bedford Institute of Oceanography 2 Woods Hole Laboratory of the Northeast Fisheries Science Centre

Basis of this Presentation Trawl surveys are: widely used for assessing populations of bottom dwelling fish and invertebrates, a rich source of in-situ measurements for ground truthing and augmentation of remotely sensed data, leading development of standards based ocean observing systems.

Canadian and United States Trawl Surveys

Canada 1) Bedford Institute of Oceanography 2) Gulf Fisheries Centre 3) Institute Maurice Lamontagne 4) North West Atlantic Fisheries Centre 5) Saint Andrews Biological Station United States 6) Northeast Fisheries Science Center

Types of Observations For 400+ species: total weight caught total number caught count at length For some species: individual length and weight sex, maturity and age

Types of Results Species Distribution Fish Stock and Population Trends Species Life History Environmental Preferences

Next Steps Under Canada’s GeoConnections Access Program: create ANSI/ISO metadata and extend BIO access facilities to support these standards, serve annually updated population & distribution products for 99 species presently on ECNASAP site, expand population & distribution products to include all 400+ species, where possible, provide estimates for juvenile and adult stock components, assist other NW Atlantic fisheries laboratories to establish similar facilities.

Gulf of Maine Biogeographical Information System Huntsman Marine Science Center NOAA Northeast Fisheries Science Center Bedford Institute of Oceanography

Objectives Improve Underlying Taxonomic Collections –Digitize entire Atlantic Reference Centre fish collection, not only for Gulf of Maine but also a major portion of the NW Atlantic, –Create electronic atlas to facilitate study of taxonomic collections for selected areas of ocean bottom.

Next Steps Under Canada’s GeoConnections Access Program: establish common minimum data and image capture facilities for CMB members, extend ANSI/ISO metadata facilities at BIO to include CMB member data, extend electronic atlas to include all available Atlantic Canada taxonomic collections, extend atlas to cover all 3 of Canada’s oceans.

Supporting the Global Spatial Data Infrastructure

Underlying Concerns Need for a conceptual model that simply describes what we should be doing. –ever growing collections of highly detailed data not being integrated into a collective whole and effectively used for decision making. –making sense of and exploiting the growing and diverse constructs and technologies presently transforming the information management paradigm.

Information Ecosystem Needs EfficiencyComplexity Operations Data Management Model ManagementIntelligence Satisfying organization needs is the primary goal when building an information infrastructure, Issues of complexity and efficiency, although important are secondary, Operational systems provide the data from which intelligence and management information is ultimately derived.

Understanding Needs Types of Users Explorers - irregular access, looking for relationships in the data, need tools for analysis, Farmers - regular access, knows what they are looking for, predictable, needs tools for presentation, Tourists - looks at lots of data on a random basis, often not at same data twice, making heavy use of metadata. Types of Analysis Structured - mostly farmers and the occasional tourist analyzing data for future possible action, Operational - mostly farmers analyzing data for immediate action, Exploratory - mostly explorers and some tourists

Making Data Into Information Portals and andClearing-houses Off line Storage QualityControlReports Operational Data Store DataMarts IntranetFirewallInternet DataWarehouse TransformIntegrateandQualityControl InternationalMetadataStandards DATA INFORMATION WebServicesOperationalSystems

Risks If we proceed without a conceptual model, differences in data management practices between the various specialist groups and regions will continue to grow. Continued difficulty with understanding the technical needs and resource levels both inside and outside of science.