some lessons from fishbase rainer froese germany [email protected]
TRANSCRIPT
The VisionThe Vision
Back in 1987, two scientists had an idea… Create a database with key-information on 200 commercial
fish species Use it for research Make it available to 500 fisheries managers in developing
countries
19 years later www.fishbase.org contains information on 29,382 species Has over 1,000 citations in the scientific literature Has about 2 million visitors per month in the Internet
If these stocks were Stocks…
Hits per Month on FishBase
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
A 98 A 99 A 00 A 01 A 02 A 03 A 04 A 05 A 06
Years (August)
Hit
s p
er m
onth
(m
illi
ons)
March 2006:29 million hits1.7 million visits
The Race to 100 Million
1,000
10,000
100,000
1,000,000
10,000,000
100,000,000
A 98 A 99 A 00 A 01 A 02 A 03 A 04 A 05 A 06
Years (August)
Hit
s p
er m
onth
2008
It Looks Like This…It Looks Like This…
And ThisAnd This
Where is the Science?
Who is Using it?Who is Using it?
FishBase Web Users
Individuals
Private sector
Universities
Governments
NGOs
Museums
Int. Research Centres
Based on 2408 entries in the FishBase Guestbook, September 2005
Where?Where?
FishBase Users by Continent
North America
Europe
Asia
South America
Africa
Australia
Oceania
Based on 2408 entries in the FishBase Guestbook , September 2005
What?What?
Common names
Scientific names
Direct linksSpecies summaries
Photos
Specialist topics
Based on 2.5 million page views by directory on Kiel server in September 2005
FishBase Usage by Topic
Frequency of FishBase Usage by Topic
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
Genetics
Diseases
FishQuiz
Reproduction
Maps
FB book
Physiology
Population dynamics
Trophic ecology
Identification
LarvalBase
Scientific Names
Museum collections
Eschmeyer
Glossary
References
Country information
Photos
Common Names
Species Summaries
Percent of total page views (July 2004)
About 10,000 visitors per month
Where is the Science?85 ISI Citations, 3 in Nature, 2 in Science (June 2002)
Fisheries
Ecology
Parasitology
Conservation
Genetics
PalaeontologyTaxonomy
IT
June 2002
Google Scholar, April 2006: 1610 citations, including 5 in Nature and 7 in Science
Fisheries
Ecology
Conservation
Aquaculture
Taxonomy
Genetics
Parasitology
IT
Palaeontology
Classification of Web Sites Linking to www.fishbase.org
Academe23%
Government21%NGO
10%
Other12%
Private29%
Research Center
5%
personal pagespersonal pagesenterprise companiesenterprise companiesother private institutionsother private institutions
international commissions/consortiainternational commissions/consortiainfo portals, references/search archives, blogsinfo portals, references/search archives, blogs
Link-AnalysisLink-Analysis
What Else can FishBase Do?
Invasive Species
Name Species Length (cm)
Doubling time (years)
Score (n)
Established already?
Mozambiquetilapia
Oreochromis mossambicus
39 1.4 – 4.4 83 Guppy Poecilia
reticulata3.5 0.5 44
Green swordtail
Xiphophorus hellerii
14 < 1 23 Redbreasttilapia
Tilapia rendalli 45 1.4 – 4.4 23 Redbelly tilapia
Tilapia zillii 40 1.4 – 4.4 19 Wami tilapia Oreochromis
hornorum24 1.4 – 4.4 17 -
Aquarium Fishes which may Establish themselves in Hawaii (6 of 111)
More Applications
Trends in Global Catches (Froese and Pauly 2003)
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
1951 1956 1961 1966 1971 1976 1981 1986 1991 1996
Years
Pe
rce
nt
of
Wo
rld
Fis
he
rie
s
26%5.1 years
38%
4.3 years
31%5.0 years
22%4.1 years
Undeveloped
Developing
Fully exploited
Overfished
Collapsed
FishBase can be utilized to produce simple, but effective posters:
…….. customized for.. customized fora fishery,a fishery, a fishing area, a fishing area, fishing gear, fishing gear, fish market, fish market, etc. etc.
A simple poster showing the actual A simple poster showing the actual lengths of fish species at first lengths of fish species at first maturity can be a useful management maturity can be a useful management tool. Posted in public places (e.g. tool. Posted in public places (e.g. public market), consumers can public market), consumers can compare the size of the fish they buy compare the size of the fish they buy with the pictures in the poster and with the pictures in the poster and know whether the fishknow whether the fishhas reached maturity.has reached maturity.
19/32
Fish RulersFish Rulers
Under The Hood• FishBase Structure
Under the Hood
Design Principles• Do not over-normalize• Avoid (hide) codes• Dedicated fields vs free-text fields• `Science and Data first´ approach• Transparency (reference, entered, modified,
date)
• Strategic decisions about data (comparative advantage, importance, future maintenance)
Under the Hood
Under The HoodFrom DataEase to MS Access to MySQL to ???
• From HTML to Cold Fusion to PHP to ???
• 6 mirrors around the world, not enough
• www.ZoneEdit.com for load-balancing, maybe not sufficient
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
Spirit
Business Model• `Champion´: Rainer Froese• Key supporters: Daniel Pauly &
Cornelia Nauen• Institutions:
– ICLARM– Since 2000: FishBase Consortium
• Donors:– European Commission– Sloan, Germany– Pew, USGS, NRDC, Taiwan, Australia, …
• Strong leadership by one person• Lose oversight by Consortium• Full-time data entry by team of
specialists; full-time programmers• Large network of additional
contributors (mostly photos & corrections)
Operating Mode
Future Plans• Complete coverage and content• Improve mapping• Add more analytical tools• Move to mobile devices• Do FishBase for all aquatic species
Future Plans
Greetings from the FishBase Greetings from the FishBase TeamTeam
32/32
Thanks to ourThanks to our Partners and Sponsors Partners and Sponsors