Collecting Fishes for ScienceAn African View

• Ethics

• Common sense – health and safety

• Collections and ‘Bioprospecting’

• Biodiversity Informatics – “knowledge repatriation”

Checklist

Ethics

Have you packed your “code of conduct”? All life is precious (In Africa) Fishes are a valuable renewable natural resource – “food” Respect African culture – it is different,

and usually more apt for the circumstance!

Fish and Fishing are an integral part of African culture

Common sense

Natural waters in Africa are dangerous diseases – the germs & bugs are

nasty! crocodiles are sneaky hippos bite anti-personnel mines hurt dangerous trash is everywhere spines, razor edged plants, etc

• Work with local partners• Permits generally are necessary• Local officials are control freaks – prepare well in

advance• Local permission (courtesy) is essential –

respect local customs and protocols• Plan to share equitably• Ensure knowledge repatriation• Ensure long-term repository – museums focus

change with time (universities are not long-term repositories)

Collections

Bioprospecting

Be Careful of this tag – developing nationsare alert and reacting

Check the legal requirements have clear (written) understanding with partners

Permits to cover “tissues” – be open ALWAYS voucher properly ALWAYS lodge vouchers in open access collections

Biodiversity Informatics

• Africa is biodiversity ‘rich’ but ‘knowledge poor/deprived’

• Africa’s scientific biodiversity resources are scattered in external institutions

• How do we ensure these resources are (i) available to African researchers/science, and (ii) address historical disadvantages?

• Modern information technologies and information systems hold the key!

• I believe fair partnerships and effort from all parties is necessary

Biodiversity informatics is to:

collect,capture,store,analyse,synthesise,report,use and share

Biodiversity information so as to exploit the natural relationships in the information.

Two Data Streams

Specimens Species

Collections Research

SpecimenStream

Museum specimens

biodiversity database linked to GIS(e.g. Specify)

Synthesis (e.g. Ecological Niche

Modelling)

Application(e.g. conservation planning)

GBIFGlobal Change

African Nodes of GBIF

Advances in African Biodiversity Informatics

• Created by MRAC African Zoology Department• To facilitate access to collections (in line with

Belgium signatory to CBD• Promote organise and disseminate information on

African biodiversity• Facilitate access to biodiversity data banks• Disseminate information on the collections through

internet and “an interface” (portal)• Help African countries in the inventory and sustainable

management of their biodiversity, in particular by sponsoring study visits of African scientists

MRAC African Biodiversity Information Centre

AllCatfishSpeciesInventory

SpeciesStream

Tree of Life web projectSpecies Stream

FaunafriSpecies Stream

Photo: Ernst Swartz

Species Stream Encyclopedia of Life

Online Literature

The IUCN Pan African Freshwater Biodiversity Assessment

• Molluscs• Crabs• Odonata• Aquatic Plants

• East Africa• Madagascar

• West Africa• Central Africa• North Africa• North East Africa

• Freshwater Fishes

• Southern Africa

Barcode of Life

New African RWG partners

Existing African RWG

African FISH-BOL Participating Countries

FISH-BOL in Africa SA iBOL 2008

Existing African RWGNew African RWG partners

25 Regional Working Group members from

16 countries

679 of 8720 species already barcoded (8%)

Support from CBOL, CCDB (& their sponsors), IUCN, SARCF (NRF), WIO project & CoML

So, lets get going!