1. Fifth iMarine Board meeting 25-26 June 2014, FAO (Rome) Related to Agenda item 6 Fifth iMarine Board meeting, 25-26 June 2014, FAO (Rome) The Vulnerable Marine Ecosystems (VME-DB) factsheet workflow iMarine Reports Manager, a product to manage fact sheets content Global inventory of fisheries measures adopted in Areas Beyond National Jurisdictional to prevent significant adverse impacts of high-seas bottom fisheries on vulnerable marine ecosystems (VMEs) and associated information Related to Agenda item 6

2. Background Understanding the impacts of bottom contact gears used by deep-sea fisheries on the seafloor is of the utmost priority. The United Nations General Assembly adopted resolutions that inspired FAO to coordinate the development of The International Guidelines for the Management of Deep-Sea Fisheries on the High Seas. Since 2006, RFMO/As have developed measures to protect benthic VMEs and their coral and sponge communities. This has generated a large amount of dispersed and difficult to access information that is now being entered on to a VME database to assist in informed decision making and the development of further measures to increase sustainability and reduce impacts. The VME database is also aiming to facilitate partnerships and create networks among the community of users, information contributors and those working on the protection of VMEs in the high seas. Vulnerable Marine Ecosystems database (VME-DB) Fifth iMarine Board meeting, 25-26 June 2014, FAO (Rome)

3. VME-DB components: Maps & Fact Sheets Vulnerable Marine Ecosystems database (VME-DB) Fifth iMarine Board meeting, 25-26 June 2014, FAO (Rome)

4. Vulnerable Marine Ecosystems database (VME-DB) The problem on Content management Ensure a sustainable maintenance (delegating authority, distributing the efforts) Get a Content Management System (CMS) to handle the VME data In a given data structure In a specific workflow Within a limited funds availability! The solution The iMarine Reports Manager A flexible CMS for reading content in whatever database schema User friendly interface Role-based workflow Real time integration Short development (three months) Delivered on time and on budget Fifth iMarine Board meeting, 25-26 June 2014, FAO (Rome)

5. Vulnerable Marine Ecosystems database (VME-DB) VME-DB Updating the VME database through the iMarine Reports Manager Reports Manager Fact sheet editing HTTPS Fifth iMarine Board meeting, 25-26 June 2014, FAO (Rome)

6. Timeline Vulnerable Marine Ecosystems database (VME-DB) Fifth iMarine Board meeting, 25-26 June 2014, FAO (Rome) 2006: UNGA Res 61/105 FAO to create a global VME database 2007: FAO COFI agreed to request 2011: FAO Workshop for the Development of a Global Database for Vulnerable Marine Ecosystems (VMEs). Rome, 7−9 December 2011 Start of the VME-DB development including introduction to iMarine offering 2012: Regional Workshop on Vulnerable Marine Ecosystems (VMEs) in the Indian Ocean Flic en Flac, Mauritius, 25–27 July 2012 Scenario on VME-DB components including iMarine collaborative environment and reports manager 2013: FAO Regional Workshop on Vulnerable Marine Ecosystems (VMEs) in the Southeast Atlantic Ocean. Swakopmund, Namibia, 15 – 17 April 2013 iMarine reports manager mock-up 2014: FAO Regional Workshop on Vulnerable Marine Ecosystems (VMEs) in the North Pacific Ocean. Tokyo, Japan, 11-13 March 2014 iMarine operational reports manager 2014: FAO Workshop on the Global Database for Vulnerable Marine Ecosystems. Rome, Italy, 7-9 May 2014. Requests to improve the iMarine reports manager 2014: by the end of the year the VME database is expected to be publicly released

7. Timeline (focused on iMarine developments) Vulnerable Marine Ecosystems database (VME-DB) Fifth iMarine Board meeting, 25-26 June 2014, FAO (Rome) 2012: Regional Workshop on Vulnerable Marine Ecosystems (VMEs) in the Indian Ocean Flic en Flac, Mauritius, 25–27 July 2012 Scenario on VME-DB components including iMarine collaborative environment and reports manager 2013: FAO Regional Workshop on Vulnerable Marine Ecosystems (VMEs) in the Southeast Atlantic Ocean. Swakopmund, Namibia, 15 – 17 April 2013 iMarine reports manager mock-up 2014: FAO Regional Workshop on Vulnerable Marine Ecosystems (VMEs) in the North Pacific Ocean. Tokyo, Japan, 11-13 March 2014 iMarine operational reports manager 2014: FAO Workshop on the Global Database for Vulnerable Marine Ecosystems. Rome, Italy, 7-9 May 2014. Requests to improve the iMarine reports manager 2014: by the end of the year the VME database is expected to be released

8. Vulnerable Marine Ecosystems database (VME-DB) What’s next? In the short term the iMarine Reports Manager is expected to: Manage users’ authorizations at RFMO level (Tickets #2438, #2829) Provide rich text editor (Ticket #2786) Improve data validation rules (e.g. date format, string fields) Fifth iMarine Board meeting, 25-26 June 2014, FAO (Rome)

9. Vulnerable Marine Ecosystems database (VME-DB) iMarine Terms of Use applied to VME-DB The Reports Manager application is instantiated in a dedicated Virtual Research Environment (VRE) for the VME database A private VRE with restricted access to selected users is foreseen in the iMarine Terms of Use The VRE is not exposing data directly to the public nor sharing with other VREs hence no specific license is required Fifth iMarine Board meeting, 25-26 June 2014, FAO (Rome)

10. Vulnerable Marine Ecosystems database (VME-DB) Other services The iMarine distributed e-infrastructure provides the VME community with a collaborative workspace through a Virtual Research Environment (VRE) for information sharing and analysis. The community can take advantage of the e-Infrastructure to access Biodiversity, Environmental and Fisheries data from other VREs. Fifth iMarine Board meeting, 25-26 June 2014, FAO (Rome)

11. The VME-DB project is technically implemented by three teams FAO Team: M. Balestra, E. Blondel, F. Carocci, R. Empiri, F. Fiorellato, A. Gentile, J. Sanders, F. Sibeni, M. Taconet, M. Tandstad, A. Thompson, E. Van Ingen iMarine Team: M. Assante, A. Ellenbroek, P. Pagano GeoSolutions Team: T. Di Pisa, S. Giannecchini, L. Natali Acknowledgments Fifth iMarine Board meeting, 25-26 June 2014, FAO (Rome) Vulnerable Marine Ecosystems database (VME-DB)

12. Thank you! Fifth iMarine Board meeting, 25-26 June 2014, FAO (Rome) Vulnerable Marine Ecosystems database (VME-DB)