FishBase Global DataBank and Tool Rainer Froese Germany

The Vision l Back in 1987, scientists in Kiel had an idea… è Create a database with key-information on 200 commercial fish species è Use it for research è Make it available to 500 fisheries managers in developing countries l 20 years later è contains information on 29,800 species è Has over 1,000 citations in the scientific literature è Has about 2 million visitors per month in the Internet

Along the way Imke Achenbach did a MS thesis under HR, testing an early version of FishBase for identification of diseases; HR was German Liason-Scientist to ICLARM, supporting continued development of FishBase; HR secured German funding for LarvalBase, the early life-history component of FishBase; HR was founding member and first Chair of the FishBase Consortium in times of crisis; HR orchestrated the offer of IFM to host the global coordination of FishBase in Germany; HR supported stream of data flowing towards FishBase through the Journal of Applied Ichthyology

If these hits were stocks…

It Looks Like This…

And This

Where is the Science?

Who is Using it?

Where?

What?

About 10,000 visitors per month

Where is the Science? 85 ISI Citations, 3 in Nature, 2 in Science (June 2002) IT June 2002

Google Scholar, April 2006: 1610 citations, including 5 in Nature and 7 in Science (2,390 citations in June 2007)

personal pages enterprise companies other private institutions international commissions/consortia info portals, references/search archives, blogs Link-Analysis

(Science 1998)

FishBase can be utilized to produce simple, but effective posters: ….. customized for a fishery, a fishing area, fishing gear, fish market, etc. fish market, etc. A simple poster showing the actual lengths of fish species at first maturity can be a useful management tool. Posted in public places (e.g. public market), consumers can compare the size of the fish they buy with the pictures in the poster and know whether the fish has reached maturity. 19/32

Fish Rulers

Under The Hood From DataEase to MS Access to MySQL to ??? From HTML to Cold Fusion to PHP to ??? 6 mirrors around the world, not enough for load- balancing, maybe not sufficientwww.ZoneEdit.com Lessons: Evolve or Go Extinct

General Principles Keep it simple Yes-Attitude Be opportunistic Give more credit than was expected Deal with errors –Expose data –Invite, accept and act on criticism –Compare data –Use your data Lessons: Spirit

Lessons: Business Model `Champion´: Rainer Froese Key supporters: Daniel Pauly, Cornelia Nauen, Harald Rosenthal Institutions: –ICLARM –Since 2000: FishBase Consortium Donors: –European Commission –Sloan, Germany –Pew, USGS, NRDC, Taiwan, Australia, …

Strong leadership by one person Loose oversight by Consortium Full-time data entry by team of specialists; full-time programmers Large network of additional contributors (mostly photos & corrections) Lessons: Operating Mode

Future Plans Complete coverage and content Improve mapping Add more analytical tools Move to mobile devices Do FishBase for all aquatic species Do FishBase for all species Future Plans

Computer-generated AquaMap for Mola mola

Expert-edited AquaMap for Mola mola

Marine Biodiversity (5,222 species)

Future Plans Complete coverage and content Improve mapping Add more analytical tools Move to mobile devices Do FishBase for all aquatic species Do FishBase for all species Future Plans

Greetings from the FishBase Team

Thanks to FishBase Partners and Sponsors