ANNEXES (Only Annexes 1-3 are included with this report)
Mr. D. Ardill, Chief of the FAO Fishery Information, Data and Statistics Unit, opened the Meeting and welcomed the participants on behalf of the Director General of FAO. In welcoming the participants, he gave special mention to the new ASFA Partners: Greece, Sweden, Estonia, Chile, ICES and Cuba. He also referred to recent negotiations with UNEP, regarding their eventual re-establishment as an ASFA Partner. The large number of participants at the Meeting, including new participants, was noted as a good sign of ASFA growth. He congratulated all Partners regarding the efforts they have put into the ASFA system over the last 25 years, noting that the ASFA database has been recognised, by a large number of users, as the main source of aquatic science information in the world. He mentioned the new ASFA Partnership and Publishing Agreements, in effect since 1995, and highlighted the change over from paper input to machine readable input using ASFISIS (one of the major topics for discussion at the Meeting). As the new Chief of the Fishery Information, Data and Statistics Unit, Mr. D. Ardill expressed his enthusiasm at having the opportunity to work with ASFA during this phase of its expansion, and emphasised the importance in working together to maintain a strong and active Partnership.
The Meeting was attended by 29 participants, from 14 National ASFA Partners, 2 International ASFA Partners, 3 ASFA Co-sponsors, the ASFA Publisher, and 1 observer from NISC. The names and organisational affiliations of the participants are listed in Annex-1. For a list of abbreviations used in this Report, see Annex-2.
2. ADMINISTRATIVE ARRANGEMENTS
Mr. R. Pepe (FAO) provided the information under this Agenda item..
3. ELECTION OF CHAIRPERSON AND RAPPORTEUR
Mr. D. James (FAO) was elected Chair. Ms. H. Wibley (FAO) was appointed Rapporteur.
The Agenda was adopted and is attached as Annex-3.
Mr. D. Moulder (PML) requested that the paper distributed together with the UK Report entitled: "Percentage Rise in the Value of a Partner's Additional Entitlements and of ASFA Product Prices" be included for discussion in the Agenda. It was agreed to discuss this topic under Agenda Item 8.
5. ADOPTION OF THE SUMMARY REPORT OF THE 1995 ASFA ADVISORY
BOARD MEETING
The Report of the 1995 ASFA Advisory Board Meeting (Hamburg) was adopted by the Board. Mr. R. Pepe was congratulated for his past efforts in producing a number of the previous ASFA Board Meeting Reports, which, because of their detail, were of great benefit, particularly for those unable to attend the Meetings.
5.1 Matters Arising
The "Decisions and Actions Agreed by the Participants" at the 1995 Board Meeting were reviewed by Mr. R. Pepe.
1) "NOAA agreed to pass 35 documents to CSA (dealing with Global Change) for input to ASFA" - Done.
2) "NOAA reported that they would provide the ASFA Partners with a complimentary copy of the NOAA Taxonomic Code on CD-ROM" - Done.
3) "FAO agreed to continue in its efforts to keep UNEP in the Partnership" - Following FAO's efforts, UNEP has given positive responses and has shown much interest; it is anticipated that they will rejoin soon.
4) "FAO agreed to follow-up on the possibility of considering the ASFA Partner in Kenya, (KMFRI) as a candidate to prepare UNEP input" - See Item 3 above.
5) "PML agreed to identify possible contacts at IMO for FAO follow-up" - Contacts were made with IMO by FAO, but resulted in negative responses.
6) "FAO reported that it would seek to clarify Cuba's current monitoring responsibility, with regard to the preparation of ASFA input" - This was carried out successfully with the signing of the ASFA Partnership Agreement by Cuba - further details are given under Agenda Item 6.1.
7) "IPIMAR agreed to investigate potential Partners in Brazil" - Ms. Monteiro sent a Fax to apologise for not being able to attend the Meeting, due to restructuring of the Institute. Two Brazilian institutions have been contacted, but nothing further has been heard.
8) "FAO agreed to follow up regarding the possible involvement in ASFA of IUCN's Wetlands Central American Office" - Nothing further has been done by FAO regarding this matter.
9) "Ms. Crampton agreed to investigate, together with Mr. Durr, the suggestion that FISHLIT put its unique records into ASFA" - This proves to be difficult due to different data structures; however, FISHLIT has been integrated with ASFA on CD-ROM.
10) "The Board agreed that both FAO and CSA legal Counsels would review the Publishing Agreement between Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations and Cambridge Scientific Abstracts for potential inconsistency. Nothing to report on this matter.
11) "The increased monitoring of grey literature was encouraged as this would increase the uniqueness of ASFA with respect to other databases" - some correspondence has been received by FAO regarding this matter.
12) "CSA agreed to follow-up with SilverPlatter on the ASFA CD-ROM delivery schedule, which appeared to be behind schedule" - CSA did follow-up, but there is still a 3 to 4 month delay in delivery. CSA agreed to follow-up further on this matter with SilverPlatter.
13) "BF formulated and distributed a test database search question. Partners who load the ASFA tapes should search the test question and return the results to BF. The search will also be run on the CD-ROM" - Some Centres have replied, and BF said they will examine the results and send details of their findings later.
14) "The Board agreed on a statement to be included in all of the introductory texts which appear in/on the ASFA information products" - Done.
15) "Further to the question of better reflecting the Partners' contribution to the compilation of ASFA and the image of ASFA itself, the Board agreed to the following:"
16) "CSA and NISC agreed to send all their future promotional materials to Partners" - Nothing further to say on this matter.
17) "BF agreed to add the ISSN numbers to the Monitoring List or send the ISSN numbers to FAO for addition to the Master copy" - Done. All Partners were reminded of the importance of sending their up-dated lists for inclusion on the ASFISIS software.
18) "It was agreed that all future abbreviations to serial title words in the ASFA Monitoring list should conform to ISO abbreviations" - Nothing further to report on this matter.
19) "Regarding ASFIS-2, Subject Categories and Scope Descriptions, it was agreed that all Partners should submit comments/corrections on the draft by 1 July 1995 and that the final draft be send to IOC for printing shortly after that date" - See Agenda Item 11 for further details regarding this matter.
20) "Regarding ASFIS-3, Guidelines for Bibliographic Description, it was agreed that the updated guidelines be prepared by FAO, incorporating the ASFISIS methodology" - See Agenda Item 11 for further details regarding this matter.
21) "Regarding ASFIS-4, Abstracting Guidelines, it was agreed that FAO continue work on the guidelines, incorporating the ASFISIS methodology" - See Agenda Item 11 for further details regarding this matter.
22) "Regarding ASFIS-5, Guidelines for Subject Categorization and Indexing, it was agreed that FAO continue work on the guidelines, incorporating the ASFISIS methodology" - See Agenda Item 11 for further details regarding this matter.
23) "Regarding ASFIS-6, ASFIS Aquatic Sciences and Fisheries Thesaurus, Ms. Cameron agreed to replace Mr. Moulder on the Thesaurus Committee" - See Agenda Item 11 for further details regarding this matter.
24) "Regarding ASFIS-7, Geographic Authority List, it was agreed that Mr. Sainekar, of NIO, be the new Chairman of the Geographic Authority List Committee, and should begin work on this list in August" - See Agenda Item 11 for further information regarding this matter.
25) "FAO agreed to investigate the availability of the utility of up-posting of taxonomic terms as on the FISHLIT database, for the ASFA database" - No further discussion has taken place regarding this matter.
26) "NOAA agreed to follow-up with CSA regarding inconsistencies with the US names appearing in ASFIS-10, Authority List for Corporate Names" - NOAA expected to contribute to this process after the arrival of their integrated library system.
27) "Regarding the International Directory of Serial Titles, BF agreed to investigate with CSA the best way to create an easily maintainable file in CDS-ISIS format, in order to keep this file up to date" - Nothing has been done on this matter.
REGARDING THE ASFISIS SOFTWARE (ITEMS 28-53)
Action has been taken regarding all Items 28-53. Particular mention was made to the following:
33.14) "Regarding the Second abstract field" - The necessary modifications to the ASFISIS software have been made to allow the insertion of non-English abstracts into ASFA, believed to be a major achievement in efforts regarding language extension. See Agenda Item 12 for further discussion.
48) "FAO agreed to follow-up on the possibility of setting up a Discussion Group List" - This has been set up on the FAO Server as ASFA-L, and most Partners have subscribed. The importance of using only the address signed-up for was stressed when sending a message to ASFA-L. Mr. D. Moulder noted that there had been some problems with some Partners not receiving documents sent through the Server; this problem needed to be followed-up, but most probably was due to incorrect addresses. It was suggested that a List of Members could be of use to Partners. It was agreed to create another Discussion Group list for only ASFA Board Members and their collaborating centres.
49) "Regarding ASFISIS distribution outside ASFA, it was agreed that such distribution should not begin until the ASFA Partners themselves have begun using the software and a fairly stable version of the software is available" - IOC requested information on the state of development of the ASFISIS software and its stability. See Agenda Item 9, for further discussion on this matter.
53) "It was agreed that, since the Geographic Descriptor Pick-list in the ASFISIS software has not been approved by the GAL Committee, it should not be used for indexing. The Committee should review as quickly as possible the version currently being used in ASFISIS and make recommendations/give approval as soon as possible" - See Agenda Item 11 for further discussion on this matter.
54) "The Board agreed that the ASFA Thesaurus should be translated into other languages, once the present English version has been completed" - See Agenda Item 11 for further discussion on this matter.
55) "DFO agreed to investigate the cost of updating the French version of the ASFA Thesaurus at IFREMER to correspond to the revised Thesaurus" - See Agenda Item 11 for further discussion on this matter.
56) "FAO agreed to get an estimate of the cost to produce a Spanish thesaurus" - See Agenda Item 11 for further discussion on this matter.
57) "Regarding the inclusion of non-English abstracts in ASFA" CSA agreed to include a non-English abstract (only on the database, and not in the printed journal) only when no English abstract was provided. See Agenda Item 11 for further discussion on this matter.
58) "The Board agreed that all ASFA records should continue to include an English title" - See Agenda Item 11 for further discussion on this matter.
59) "There was general agreement that candidate organisations and/or institutions not in a position to provide English language abstracts should not be excluded from future participation in ASFA" - See Agenda Item 11 for further discussion on this matter.
60) "Regarding the possibility of submitting input without an English abstract" - See Agenda Item 11 for further discussion on this matter.
61) "The Board agreed that a second abstract field be added to the ASFISIS software" - See Agenda Item 11 for further discussion on this matter.
62) "CSA agreed to investigate the inclusion of abstracts in non-Roman script" - CSA said that this would not be possible.
63) Trust fund proposals:
64) "The Board agreed to the inclusion of a location statement in the Notes Field when no comparable information exists in the record and to review the impact of the location statement on input centres after two years" - CSA has not noted many inclusions. IOC offered to include the URL of full text version of IOC publications in the Notes field.
65) "Regarding discussions concerning the compilation of sources of literature to assist ASFA users" - CSA said they had a list of Document Suppliers available for those interested. IOC asked CSA to investigate inclusion on ASFA CD-ROM.
66) "ICLARM agreed to provide its CDS-ISIS database of serials monitored in Southeast Asian libraries to CSA for possible inclusion on their gopher" -Done
67) "It was agreed that GE/MIM follow up on new technologies to translate and generate abstracts" - IOC said they had no further information regarding this matter.
The publication "ASFA - The First Twenty Years" was issued during the intersessional period containing the commemorative page to E. F. Akyuz.
Mr. D. Moulder queried the participation in ASFA of PIMRIS; FAO replied that they were still on the list of potential ASFA Partners, but funding for their input depended on the CIDA project. Canada said that they would follow up on the matter.
The use of the ASFA tools (such as: the Thesaurus, the Geographic Authority List, etc.) by organizations/database producers etc. (not participating in ASFA) was discussed briefly. The importance of these "other" organizations acknowledging the use of the ASFA tools was noted. It was agreed that all Partners check, where possible, for the use of the ASFA tools by other organizations with the intention of gaining due acknowledgement.
6. STATUS OF THE ASFA PARTNERSHIP
6.1 Report on Inter-sessional Activities of the ASFA Partners
The Partners presented short summaries of their Reports on intersessional activities. Reported below is information not included in the reports or information that had changed since the Reports were written and submitted. Please see Annexes 4 - 24 for the full Reports of each Partner.
6.1.1 United Nations Co-sponsors
6.1.1.1 FAO Report (see Annex-4)
Mr. D. James presented the FAO Report. He reported on the accomplishments of the FAO ASFA Secretariat since the last Board Meeting, and mentioned that the major priorities continued to be: the expansion of the number of Partners, the improvement in geographic distribution and the increase in language capacity. He mentioned the success of the Secretariat in attracting and signing-up new Partners. Six new Partners joined ASFA during the intersessional period (Chile, Cuba, Estonia, Greece, ICES, and Sweden). Particular reference was made to the efforts of re-establishing UNEP as a Partner and the possibility of PIMRIS and Brazil as future candidates. He pointed out that due to the increasing number of new Partners, a primary requirement would be training, and that the ASFA Trust fund would have to be increasingly relied upon to cover the costs, especially in areas of common interest to the Partners such as the familiarisation of new Partners with the ASFA input methodology.
6.1.1.2 UN/DOALOS Report (see Annex-5)
Mr. R. Gruszka, the UN/DOALOS representative, presented the UN/DOALOS Report. He reported that following the retirement of Ms. D. Sutherland in December 1995 transitional problems had been encountered at the Centre regarding preparation of ASFA input. The new inputter, Ms. J. Mulholland, has made considerable progress, although she would require training in the use of the ASFA input methodology and the ASFISIS software.
6.1.1.3 IOC Report (see Annex-6)
Mr. P. Pissierssens, the IOC representative, presented the IOC Report. He gave a brief outline of activities carried out at IOC during the past year. He mentioned IOC's support of the new Kenyan ASFA Partner KMFRI and mentioned that the RECOSCIX project was to be extended for another 3 years. The project will supply the ASFA CD-ROM to 4 Institutions in the West Indian Ocean Region. Regarding the IOC CD-ROM, the ASFISIS program will be included.
6.1.2.1 IUCN Report (see Annex-7)
6.1.2.2 ICLARM Report (see Annex-8)
ICLARM could not attend the Meeting, but provided a Report which was circulated at the Meeting.
6.1.2.3 ICES Report
Ms. J. Rosenmeier, the ICES representative, reported that a member of their staff, Ms. M. Ovens, had received training regarding the preparation of ASFA input, using ASFISIS, during a short visit to the FAO in March 1996, and that some input was in the early stages of preparation.
6.1.2.4 Poland (SFI) Report (see Annex-9)
Ms. Z. Brzeska, the Polish representative, presented the SFI Report. She reported that two participants would be attending the ASFA Training Course following the Board Meeting and hopefully this would considerably improve their expertise and future co-operation with ASFA.
6.1.2.5 Germany (BF) Report (see Annex-10) Dr. W. Kirchner presented the BF Report. He mentioned that BF would, for the time being, continue to use their version of ASFISIS. He pointed out that some modifications were still necessary to the ASFISIS/ODIN version and that BF would be prepared to change over once they felt the new version was ready. He mentioned his concern over the present manner in which special characters were currently being coded in ASFISIS. He also mentioned the spelling check method used by BF to avoid errors in the preparation of ASFA data input (this was discussed further under Agenda Item 9). He also informed the Board that Ms Sonja Hvalkof, from the IOC Science and Communication Centre on Harmful Algae, Copenhagen, had visited BF to receive some training regarding ASFISIS. Following her return to Copenhagen, communication continued, which would seem to indicate that there was a good possibility for future co-operation between ASFA and the Centre on Harmful Algae.
6.1.2.6 United Kingdom (PML) Report (see Annex-11)
Mr. D. Moulder presented the PML Report. He reported that the installation/use of ASFISIS had run into some delays because of construction work being carried out on the premises of PML, nonetheless the software was now installed both at Plymouth and Windermere and shortly it would be installed at the other 2 UK, ASFA Collaborating Centres. Some of the UK Input Network staff would be attending the ASFISIS Training Course following the Board Meeting. He also brought up the topic of Partner entitlements which was to be discussed further under Agenda Item 8.
6.1.2.7 Ukraine (YugNIRO) Report (see Annex-12)
Dr. E. Romanov presented the YugNIRO Report. He reported that, despite both the financial and technical problems that they had encountered, they have managed to install ASFISIS successfully and to prepare ASFA input using this system. Some proposals were made regarding the ASFISIS software, which were to be discussed later under Agenda Item 9. A Report was also provided by the Ukraine ASFA Collaborating Centre located at the Library of the Institute of Biology of the Southern Seas (see Annex-12a).
6.1.2.8 Estonia (MEI) Report (see Annex-13)
Ms. M. Kalenchits presented the MEI Report. She reported that although the Estonian Marine Institute (MEI) was not yet operative, CDS-ISIS has been installed. They intend to start preparing input for ASFA, using ASFISIS, following the Training Course at FAO.
6.1.2.9 Greece (NCMR) Report (see Annex-14)
The Greek representative, Ms. S. Goulala, presented the NCMR Report. She reported that Greece recently signed the ASFA Partnership Agreement and that the Assistant Librarian, Ms. E. Charou, would be attending the Training Course on ASFISIS following the Board Meeting.
6.1.2.10 Japan (JFRCA) Report (see Annex -15)
Mr. T. Mitsuhashi, Fisheries Agency, delivered the JFRCA Report. Ms. M. Ikenouye, the representative from JFRCA, reported that JAMSTEC had become an ASFA Collaborating Centre and was already operational, having installed ASFISIS.
6.1.2.11 China (NMDIS) Report (see Annex-16)
Mr. Yang Ying presented the NMDIS Report. He reported that they successfully installed the second version of ASFISIS in March 1996, and that they were preparing ASFA input. Reference was made to activities carried out regarding their Trust Fund proposal Sub-project 2, Human Capacity Building in China, which includes one Training Course to be held in June 1996 and another in October 1996.
6.1.2.12 Sweden (IMR) Report
Dr. A. Lindquist reported that the National Board of Fisheries (Institute of Marine Research) has just become a new ASFA Partner and that it has installed ASFISIS although some problems were being encountered regarding the operation of the system.
6.1.2.13 Kenya (KMFRI) Report (see Annex-17)
6.1.2.14 USA (NOAA) Report (see Annex-18)
6.1.2.15 France (IFREMER) Report (see Annex-19)
6.1.2.16 India (NIO) Report (see Annex -20 )
6.1.2.17 Canada (NRC) Report (see Annex-21)
6.1.2.18 Others
Mr. D. James provided information for the following National Partners which were not present at the Meeting:
Australia, CSIRO Division of Fisheries (see Annex-22)
CSIRO has been encountering difficulties in continuing to submit Australian input to ASFA due to restructuring and downsizing, but Mr. D. Abbott (the CSIRO ASFA Board Member) is hopeful that eventually, once this difficult period has been overcome, CSIRO can be expected to resume input preparation.
Chile, Instituto De Fomento Pesquero (IFOP)
The Instituto De Fomento Pesquero (IFOP), Chile, has just signed the ASFA Partnership Agreement.
Cuba, Centro di Investigaciones Pesqueras (CIP)
Mr. R. Pepe (FAO) visited CIP in December 1995, and Cuba signed the Partnership Agreement during his visit. See FAO Report Items 4.4 and 4.4.1 for further information.
Lithuania, Ichthyobank
The Lithuanian representative attended the Training Course on ASFA Input Methodology held in Goa, India in March 1995, but has not yet started sending ASFA input to FAO in machine readable format. FAO agreed to follow-up this matter.
Mexico, Centro de Informacion Cientifica y Humanistica (CICH)
The Centro de Informacion Cientifica y Humanistica (CICH) sent their apologies for not being able to attend the Board Meeting.
Norway, Institute of Marine Research (NOD)
Communication between the Norwegian ASFA Partner (NOD) and FAO was very limited during the intersessional period; FAO agreed to follow-up this matter.
Portugal, Instituto Portugues de Investigacao Maritima (IPIMAR)
The Instituto Portugues de Investigacao Maritima (IPIMAR) sent their apologies for not being able to attend the Board Meeting and reported on the restructuring of the Institute. Ms. Nunes did follow up on the action which she took responsibility for at the Last Board Meeting.
6.1.3 ASFA Publisher (CSA) Report (see Annex-23)
Ms. A. Hitti presented the Report for CSA. She mentioned the CSA services on Internet and World Wide Web in relation to ASFA, and stressed the importance of the use of machine-readable input by the Centres for the preparation of ASFA input.
6.1.4.1. NISC (South Africa) Report (see Annex-24)
Ms. M. Crampton described the efforts of NISC to make optimum use of the ASFA database in the NISC CD-ROM environment. This led to detailed discussions regarding costs, and what the NISC CD-ROMs offered in particular and their uniqueness, compared to the Silver Platter ASFA CD-ROM.
6.2 New and Potential ASFA Partners
Mr. D. James reviewed the status of the new and potential ASFA Partners, noting that most of these Partners have already been mentioned during the previous discussions.
6.2.1. Admission of new Partners
The Board was asked to approve the admission of the new Partners to ASFA (Chile Cuba, Greece, Estonia, ICES, and Sweden). Mr. James noted that consultations (with the Board) regarding the new Partners have been made throughout the year. The Board granted its approval.
6.2.2. Consideration of potential Partners
FAO requested the Board for suggestions regarding the recruitment of eventual new Partners in order to increase geographic and subject coverage. Various areas/organizations were suggested, including Cote d'Ivoire, Southeast Asia, Brazil, Venezuela, the Caribbean, Spain, Denmark, Egypt and FAO Regional Fishery Bodies in Africa. FAO mentioned the GFCM Regional aquaculture information centre (SIPAM) located in Tunisia as a future source of input to the ASFA database. Mr. P. Pissierssens suggested that the IOC Regional Office in the Western Pacific could help with enquiries.
Mr. J. Judy, Chief of the AGRIS/CARIS Co-ordination Group, reported on the current co-operation between AGRIS and ASFA, which up until recently has been limited. He mentioned that AGRIS had provided "fisheries" subsets of their database to CSA and NISC for eventual inclusion in their products. He also referred to current negotiations between the Philippine ASFA Centre located at ICLARM and the AGRIS Centre located at the University of the Philippines regarding the sharing of input. FAO mentioned the software that it was writing to facilitate the exchange of records between the AGRIS input software AGRIN and the ASFA input software ASFISIS.
Mr. Judy provided some statistics, describing the current status of AGRIS. The AGRIS database now contains approximately 2,500,000 records (25% with abstracts) accessioned since 1974. He reported that the printed index (AGRINDEX) ceased publication in 1995, and that their primary output product was now the Silver Platter CD-ROM. AGRIS should be available on Internet via the FAO Home page towards the end of the year. Mr. Judy said that a report on AGRIS progress would be given at the next Meeting.
Regarding the use of the AGRIS records by CSA and NISC, CSA reported that it was not yet including AGRIS records on the Silver Platter ASFA CD-ROM. CSA mentioned that the AGRIS Fisheries Subset would be available on Internet as a free enhancement for subscribers to the ASFA printed journals. NISC reported that the aquaculture section of AGRIS was being integrated onto their Aquatic Biology and Fish Resources CD-ROM. To date, AGRIS has sent 108,000 records to CSA and NISC (comprising 2 quarterly updates).
7. ASFA SCOPE, COVERAGE, MONITORING and TIMELINESS
Mr. R. Pepe described each of the above terms (as used in the context of ASFA) for the benefit of new Partners present at the Meeting. Regarding Scope, he mentioned the ASFIS Reference Series publication, ASFIS-2, Subject Categories and Scope Descriptions, which lists all the ASFA subject categories together with their scope description. Coverage was described as the extent to which the stated scope is being covered in terms of geographic coverage, language coverage, time span of coverage, document type, and media coverage (e.g. paper journals, electronic journals). Monitoring was given to mean the systematic examining by each ASFA Partner of an agreed list of serial titles and the eventual input of the ASFA relevant material. Timeliness was given to mean citation speed.
The question as to how far back coverage and data input should go, especially regarding new Partners, was discussed. The Board agreed that each case should be considered on an individual basis, depending on: the value of the information, the lack of information in the area covered by the new Partner, and the available financial resources. Considerable discussion followed regarding existing Partners, who were reminded that generally documents older than 5 years were entered as Database Only (DBO) records.
Regarding Mr. L. Kilemba's question as to how far back he could go in entering references to the Kenyan literature in ASFA, it was agreed that it was basically up to the Kenyan ASFA Partner to decide. Regarding older input, however, he was reminded that input prepared for documents published during the years 1978-1991 would appear only in the ASFA database (DBO records) and not in the printed ASFA journals, while input prepared for documents published from 1992 onwards would appear both on the ASFA database and in the ASFA printed journals.
The importance of older material (i.e. scientific publications) was mentioned with regard to its use by researchers in studying trends (e.g. climate change, ecological succession etc.). NOAA questioned the possibility of submitting pre-1978 material as input to the ASFA database. CSA said that the processing of such material would have to be given second priority at CSA and it would also need some indication as to quantity of material. Partners were asked to inform the Board (for their eventual opinion/approval through ASFA-L) if they intended to cover old literature.
FAO mentioned plans to carry out another review of the database for gaps in the monitoring of serials by Partners later on in the year.
Mr. D. Moulder brought up the topic of missing records in the ASFA database. Figures appeared to show discrepancies between the number of records submitted as input by some of the ASFA Partners and the actual number of records appearing on the database. Some concern was shown by the different Partners regarding this matter, and discussion followed in an attempt to determine the possible causes.
Dr. W. Kirchner referred to the Partner input statistics provided together with the BF report (see Annex -10). The statistics show that all input numbers have grown but that often records are delayed appearing on the database, sometimes up to 2 years.
Mr. D. James mentioned the contract agreement with CSA "to publish in 90 days". CSA replied that this was being fulfilled. Regarding timeliness, CSA recommended that Partners send their ASFA input to CSA by FTP, if possible. CSA agreed to provide Partners with details of their FTP account.
CSA reported that it sometimes rejects ASFA input, submitted by Partners, which it feels is outside the subject scope of ASFA without notifying Partners. However, from this year onwards, CSA will notify Partners regarding the records which they have rejected.
As pointed out at last year's Meeting, there was still major concern regarding delays in the delivery of the Silver Platter ASFA CD-ROM. They still appeared to be 3 to 4 months behind in their delivery schedule. CSA believed that there was a problem regarding "labelling" (i.e. the update labelled 1988 to December 1995 actually contains records entered/processed in the database in December 1995, therefore the update could not possibly be issued in December). In any case, CSA agreed to follow-up on this matter.
8.1.1 ASFA Journals, CD-ROM, and Database
Brief mention was made regarding some of the changes made to the ASFA journals since the last Board Meeting (e.g. the ICLARM logo now appears on the journal, and the ICES logo is to follow shortly). The Introductory Text which appears under the logos on the title page was changed as requested by the Board last year.
Mr. P. Pissierssens enquired as to the reason why people were still subscribing to the ASFA printed journals instead of the CD-ROM version. CSA said that many libraries still wanted complete sets of the printed products on their shelves. Ms. A. Hitti also mentioned that CSA had added a bonus to print subscribers (at no extra charge) regarding usage via Internet. However, it was pointed out that not all institutes were able to utilise Internet. Mr. M. Tapaswi suggested that the cost factor played an important role in this matter, as the printed product is considerably cheaper than CD-ROM.
A new material (update) field has been added to the Silver Platter ASFA CD-ROM and also to the NISC CD-ROM thereby facilitating SDI searches.
Mr. M. Tapaswi pointed out that many of the Silver Platter software facilities (i.e. Thesaurus, sort function) were not available with the ASFA CD-ROM. CSA said that they had conveyed a message regarding this to Silver Platter but would follow-up again.
Brief mention was made by FAO regarding a few errors detected on the CD-ROM Databases. These errors were communicated to the producers during the intersessional period.
NISC referred to the use of the varied spelling technique to improve searching quality on the NISC Disc.
CSA informed the Board that they had unified the ASFA 1, ASFA 2, and ASFA 3 databases on the CSA Internet Database Service, going back to 1978, and that it would be updated monthly.
Considerable discussion followed regarding the ASFA database on Internet and numerous questions were raised. Ms. M. Crampton mentioned that the NISC databases will also be available through the CSA Internet server.
Ms. J. Beattie (NOAA) informed the Board that a number of their users are searching ASFA on the CSA Internet Database Service and that NOAA has received very good comments.
While not denying the obvious increase in the availability of the Internet, Mr R. Pepe noted that only a very small percentage of the world's population actually had full Internet access (e.g. Internet reaches only 12 of the 54 African countries). Therefore traditional means of information dissemination should not be totally abandoned, and alternative means sought.
Mr. P. Pissierssens queried as to the existence of any legal agreements regarding NISC's eventual inclusion of all parts of ASFA on one CD-ROM. CSA explained that NISC wanted to distinguish what it was offering by integrating ASFA with other smaller databases and not simply offer what was already available from other vendors. However, Ms. M. Crampton said she would investigate the possibility of adding ASFA 1, ASFA 2, ASFA 3 on one CD-ROM disc.
8.3 Public Relations Activities and Marketing
Ms. A. Hitti mentioned the Trade Shows attended by CSA during the inter-sessional period (see Annex 6 to the CSA Report for a listing) and the Fact Sheet regarding the SilverPlatter ASFA CD-ROM (see Annex 4 to the CSA Report). CSA believes that Marketing is a very important area and they are focusing on ASFA as much as possible.
Ms. M. Crampton gave a brief account of NISC's marketing activities and mentioned that current South African sales of the NISC disc were going well, and that NISC was expanding its offices world-wide for marketing purposes.
CSA were pleased to note that the IOC World Wide Web Server included some pages regarding ASFA with a link to the CSA World Wide Web Server. CSA would like to encourage other Partners to promote ASFA, as IOC has, by opening up home pages with ASFA links to CSA.
Mr. R. Pepe mentioned the need for a new ASFA Brochure. He also mentioned the eventual production of an ASFA Newsletter which could be distributed through the ASFA-L Discussion List.
Mr. P. Pissierssens brought up the subject of an ASFA Logo, suggesting that this would help marketing. For further discussion regarding this topic see Agenda Item 13.2
Discussion of this Agenda item was based on the paper presented by Mr. D. Moulder entitled Percentage Rise in the Value of a Partner's Entitlements and of ASFA Product Prices (see Attachment to the UK Report, Annex-11) He pointed out his concern that the percentage growth in the Entitlements (purchasing power) seemed to be increasing at a much smaller rate than the percentage growth in the cost of the ASFA products. He requested a copy of Exhibit F of the Publishing Agreement, which explains how the yearly indexation is calculated.
CSA pointed out that in 1996 they had had publishing price increases which were higher than in the previous year, but lower increases were anticipated for 1997. The Partners were also reminded that they had a 25% discount on the list prices for all products.
The Board noted its concern on this matter and agreed to monitor carefully the situation as it progresses and to re-discuss the situation at the next Meeting.
CSA agreed to provide Consumer Price Index figures in their next Board Meeting Report, as requested by Mr. D. Moulder.
The current ceiling (75 units) on the number of ASFA CD-ROMs available to CSA (from SilverPlatter) for eventual distribution to ASFA Partners as entitlements was discussed. Ms. A. Hitti noted that the Silver Platter customer market for ASFA CD-ROMs is limited, therefore the current figure of 75 "entitlement" units represents a substantial foregoing of sale revenue for SilverPlatter, and a point to be taken into account.
Considering the limited number of CD-ROM units available for complimentary distribution, CSA would like Partners to consider taking their ASFA entitlements in the form of ASFA Internet subscriptions rather than as CD-ROMs.
Mr. D. Moulder asked CSA for details regarding access to the ASFA database on Internet, and also suggested that CSA explain to Partners some of the advantages of using ASFA on Internet with respect to the CD-ROM (e.g. one advantage is that the ASFA Internet version allows for monthly updates as compared to the quarterly CD-ROM updates).
NOAA re-iterated its wide use of ASFA on the Internet in the USA and offered to supply other Partners with more information regarding this topic.
Mr. D. Ardill suggested that, since the production costs of CD-ROM are low, they could be used as promotion to seed interest in developing countries, which currently have no access to ASFA.
Ms. A. Hitti suggested that, if the number of ASFA CD-ROMs available for complimentary distribution (75) were exhausted and there was a need for additional CD-ROMs for distribution to developing countries, the ASFA Trust Fund could be used to purchase the needed CD-ROMs.
9. PROGRESS WITH MACHINE READABLE INPUT
Mr. R. Pepe gave a brief historical background regarding the ASFISIS software since December 1994, describing the various releases, updates and their distribution. He also mentioned the preparation of the bibliographic, abstracting and indexing guidelines which describe input using ASFISIS.
It was noted that not all Partners were using ASFISIS, therefore Partners were asked to give their comments in order to help determine what the problem was and how it could be solved. Most Partners replied that they had only encountered minor problems which had now been overcome, but nonetheless only a few were regularly sending batches of ASFA input to CSA. Numerous Partners reported that they were still at the experimental stage of data input using ASFISIS.
Regarding future updates to ASFISIS, FAO informed the Board that updates would be released only when necessary, however updates to some of the supporting databases contained in ASFISIS, such as the Monitoring list, would be prepared on a regular basis, possibly every 6 months.
Considerable discussion followed concerning the quality control of data input. IFREMER explained how abstracts were prepared using a word processing software and downloaded into the ASFISIS system after running spelling checks. Dr. W. Kirchner mentioned the well-proven (and advisable) method of spell checking used at BF in which the inputted data was listed using the inverted file in CDS-ISIS. The ASFISIS system, and other technical problems involved in data input were discussed in detail in a Working Group composed of Ms. H. Cameron, Ms. S. Goulala, Ms. A. Hitti, Mr. L. Kilemba, Dr. W. Kirchner, Dr. A. Lindquist, Ms. L. Lombardi, Mr. D. Moulder, Mr. R. Pepe (Chair), Ms. J. Prodhomme, Mr. M. Tapaswi, Ms. C. Thiery, and Ms. H. Wibley. (See Annex-25 for the ASFISIS Working Group Report).
CSA asked FAO to encourage Partners to prepare input in machine readable format using ASFISIS. The Board agreed that as from 1997 Partner Entitlement Benefits would not be approved for those Partners submitting paper input.
FAO asked all centres to notify them of any problems they come across using ASFISIS and mentioned that they would investigate the possibility of training for those Partners who have major problems.
Should new centres have problems regarding inadequate hardware facilities, it may be possible to use the Trust Fund to upgrade their hardware.
Training material for the ASFISIS software was brought up for discussion, and it was generally agreed that there was a need for the preparation of a manual to explain how to use the software for the complete preparation of data input for sending to CSA, in simple language. For further discussion on this topic, see Agenda Item 13.2.
Regarding the Partners' problems with the ASFISIS system, CSA said that they were willing to provide a help service via ASFA-L, where Mr. C. Emerson would be available to reply to anybody's questions in collaboration with FAO.
Mr. E. Romanov said that he would gladly welcome a Windows version of ASFISIS, since a Windows version of CDS/ISIS was already in the process of being prepared.
10. REPORT ON ASFA TRAINING ACTIVITIES
The FAO ASFA Secretariat has been involved throughout the year (via E-Mail and correspondence) in the training of the ASFA Partners regarding the preparation of ASFA input using ASFISIS. It has also been correcting the input from new Partners (ICLARM, YugNIRO) and it provided a 2-day training session for the ICES International Partner in March 1996.
A Training Course in ASFA input methodology will be held, at FAO, during the week following this Board Meeting. Nine people will attend, some of whom will be funded from the ASFA Trust Fund.
The possibility of holding a Staff Meeting in September 1996 was discussed, which could be used to exchange experiences and information and maybe combine some training in ASFISIS for some of the existing Partners. A request was also made for some time to be put aside during future Board Meetings for a Technical Meeting to cover brief training and exchanges regarding ASFISIS software.
The need for an adequate training manual was stressed again and the Board was asked to make a proposal under Agenda Item 13 to cover this.
CSA said that they would be willing to provide the venue for a Training Course later on this year for Partners in North America, if FAO were willing to co-operate.
11. STATUS OF ASFIS REFERENCE SERIES PUBLICATIONS
Mr. R. Pepe explained the purpose of the ASFIS Reference Series publications and briefly reported on their status. For details on each publication, see item-6 in the FAO Report.
11.1 ASFIS-1, Serials Monitored for the ASFIS Bibliographic
Database
The Board agreed that there was no need to continue producing the printed version and that it could be sent to each centre on diskette for printing. IOC suggested putting all the ASFIS Reference Series onto their CD-ROM and/or the Silver Platter ASFA CD-ROM.
11.2 ASFIS-2, Subject Categories and Scope Descriptions
It is necessary to publish this document, since the pick-list contained in the ASFISIS software does not include scope descriptions. A Working Group was convened to discuss the CSA proposal to introduce 2 new Aquaculture Subject Categories. (See Annex 2 to CSA Report). The Working Group, composed of Ms. A. Hitti, Ms. J. Prodhomme, Mr. M. Tapaswi and Mr. R. Pepe, agreed on the proposal, which will come into effect in 1997 input. FAO agreed to notify the Partners regarding this change.
11.3 ASFIS-3, Guidelines for Bibliographic Description
In February 1996, a provisional version of the Guidelines was sent to all ASFA Partners, and FAO is waiting for comments.
11.4 ASFIS-4, Abstracting Guidelines
In May 1996, a provisional version of the Guidelines was sent to all ASFA
Partners, and FAO is waiting for comments.
11.5 ASFIS-5, Guidelines for Subject Categorisation and Indexing
In May 1996, a provisional version of the Guidelines was sent to all ASFA
Partners, and FAO is waiting for comments.
11.6 ASFIS-6, ASFIS Aquatic Sciences and Fisheries Thesaurus
A Working Group composed of Ms. H. Cameron, Ms. S. Goulala, Ms. C.Thiery, Ms. J. Prodhomme, Ms. A. Hitti, Dr. W. Kirchner, Mr. P. Pissierssens, Ms. M. Crampton, Mr. D. Moulder, Dr. A. Lindquist, and Mr. R. Pepe (Chair) was held to discuss the revision of the ASFIS Thesaurus. See Annex-26 for Report of the Working Group.
11.7 ASFIS-7, Geographic Authority List
A Working Group composed of Mr. E. Romanov, Ms. S. Goulala, Mr. D. Moulder, Ms. J. Prodhomme, Ms A. Hitti, Mr. M. Tapaswi, Ms. M. Crampton, and Mr. R. Pepe (Chair) was convened to discuss the revision of the ASFIS Geographic Authority List. See Annex-27 for Report of the Working Group.
11.8 ASFIS-8, Taxonomic Authority List
The Board agreed to the withdrawal of ASFIS-8, which would be replaced by the NOAA Taxonomic Code of the National Oceanographic Data Center (NODC) and by the FAO Standard Common Names and Scientific Names of Commercial Species. NOAA announced that their Taxonomic List is on Internet and is available on CD-ROM to Partners on request.
11.9 ASFIS-9, Database User Guide
There was some discussion on the usefulness of a brochure providing information as to the characteristics and uniqueness of the ASFA database. It was agreed to discontinue ASFIS-9 and create an Information Leaflet/Brochure for Partners/Users, describing the specific advantages of ASFA. Ms. M. Crampton said that a description/guide is provided on the NISC disc regarding the information provided by each database and offered to send a disc to all Partners for trial examination.
11.10 ASFIS-10, Authority List for Corporate Names
CSA now has control of the List and has noted that since it is on the ASFISIS software as a pick-list, there is no need for a printed copy, although it could be sent on diskette to any Partner if necessary. CSA agreed to send annual updates to FAO for incorporation into the ASFISIS software.
11.11 ASFIS-11, Magnetic Tape Specifications and Record
Format
No action to be reported regarding this item.
12. EXPANDED LANGUAGE CAPABILITY IN ASFA
It was agreed at the last Board Meeting to enter non-English abstracts in ASFA (i.e. on the database only and not in the printed product). However, the publisher CSA and the ASFA vendors have a major technical problem regarding the input of diacritical characters into their software. CSA is also unable at present to accept a second abstract field. Much discussion followed regarding this matter and the Board considered it unacceptable to have non-English abstracts on the database without diacritical characters.
FAO stressed the importance of including non-English abstracts in ASFA, as they felt that they were not completely fulfilling their mandate if they provided only English abstracts, and that limiting ASFA to only English abstracts was also discouraging some potential organizations from joining the ASFA Partnership. Ms. A. Hitti said CSA would investigate with ASFA Vendors the feasibility of using diacritical characters. CSA will also report further on the addition of a second abstract field to the CSA software. BF agreed to provide additional information regarding UNICODE.
13.1 Status of the ASFA Trust Fund
13.1.1 Administered by IOC up to the end of 1994 (Status
of Trust Fund)
All of the funds available in the IOC (ASFA) Trust Fund have been used up. IOC agreed to make up for the small deficit shown in their Financial Report regarding this Trust Fund account, see Annex-6.
13.1.2 Administered by FAO from 1995 (Status of Trust
Fund)
To date, the balance in the ASFA Trust Fund as held in the FAO account is US$ 96,017.77.
See Annex 4 of the FAO Report which will be updated and presented as a separate Annex (Annex-4a) to reflect the most recent royalty payments from CSA.
13.2 New Trust Fund Proposals and Decisions on Proposals
to be Supported
The Board agreed that the US$ 8,000 previously allocated, from the ASFA Trust Fund, for the IOC Study Fund proposal should be added to the US$ 26,000 set aside for training purposes, and that this sum should be carried over to the following year for the training of new Partners and/or the re-training of existing Partners.
The possibility of using some of these financial resources to prepare a manual on the use of the ASFISIS software for ASFA data input was mentioned. For further discussion on this topic, see Agenda Item 13.2.5.
Mr. R. Pepe explained each of the following Trust Fund proposals individually. He mentioned how the results of the Statistical Analysis and the User Survey could be used as the basis of discussion at Board Meetings for the Agenda items dealing with scope, coverage, monitoring, quality etc..
13.2.1 Statistical Analysis of ASFA Database
See Annex-28 for text of the proposal.
The Board agreed in principle to the concept of this project proposal. Considerable discussion followed regarding the budget. The Board agreed to earmark the sum of US$ 7000 for this proposal.
The Board agreed that the sum of US$ 7000 should not be exceeded without further consultation with the ASFA Board. A final decision regarding the project proposal will be made by the Board when more detailed information is provided regarding the cost and the terms of reference.
There was general agreement for the need to have the contents of the ASFA database expressed statistically, i.e. by Input Centre, Subject Category Code, Document Type, etc. The statistics could show how the Input Centres are carrying out scope coverage.
Dr. W. Kirchner (BF) pointed out that a straightforward analysis of the ASFA database could be carried out using the ASFA database loaded on DIMDI. He offered to invite the person who will eventually carry out the analysis to visit Hamburg for assistance in using DIMDI.
CSA believed that this could be a useful project from the marketing point of view, providing valuable information for the Partnership.
NOAA suggested that the entire ASFA database could be covered by the analysis, including historical data, which would show trends by year and by Input Centre.
PML agreed to send to FAO information on a past analysis of ASFA which that they had performed. FAO agreed to prepare the terms of reference. Mr. D. Moulder suggested that annual statistical follow-ups could be carried out subsequently, although not necessarily in such detail as the proposed project.
See Annex-29 for text of this proposal.
This project aims to identify what the user obtains or would like to obtain from ASFA.
FAO pointed out that a previous survey of ASFA users was carried out 8 years ago by Drexel University in collaboration with NOAA and CSA. However, the results of this survey were somewhat compromised, because of serious problems concerning the mailing list of persons to be surveyed, caused by the proprietary nature of CSA's mailing list.
There was considerable discussion regarding the many issues related to such a survey: the mailing list, the questionnaire, the survey institute, the cost, etc. It was suggested that more information on the last survey be obtained. NOAA agreed to check its files for more information.
FAO agreed to prepare a more detailed proposal, together with interested Board Members, for final approval by the Board.
13.2.3 Key Information Sources in Current High Interest
Topics
See Annex-30 for text of this proposal.
Ms. J. Beattie (NOAA) pointed out that many individual institutions are already carrying out this type of service and putting it on the World Wide Web. She mentioned the El Nino bibliography prepared by NOAA and said that it could be made available to ASFA users. Ms. C. Thiery (IUCN) noted that many small institutions did not have access to the Web and so a bibliographic list would be of use. IUCN has had many requests regarding this issue.
Much discussion followed concerning the definition of "High Interest Topics". It was suggested that an ASFA Homepage could be used to signal the information on high interest topics residing at the various institutions. The possibility of setting up an ASFA Homepage was discussed. The Board suggested that the ASFA Homepage should be housed at FAO. FAO agreed to investigate such a possibility.
13.2.4. Adaptation (Translation) of ASFA Thesaurus into
French
See Annex-31 for text of this proposal.
The usefulness of a French Thesaurus was discussed and FAO emphasised the difference between translation and adaptation. The possibility of a "correspondence list", without any hierarchical structure, was discussed. It was noted that such a list would be an extremely useful tool in South and Central America and also Western Africa. The list could be trilingual. IFREMER already has a French list, and Mexico and Chile have started a Spanish one.
The possibility of modifying the English Thesaurus that is currently being revised to include French and Spanish terms was discussed in detail.
IFREMER agreed to send the translation on paper via E-Mail to Canada. Part of the work is already in the OECD Thesaurus.
The Board agreed on 3 languages: English, French and Spanish. Regarding Portuguese, Mr. D. Moulder suggested Ms. Lidia Nunes as a possible candidate for this project. Once more information was obtained regarding costs, a proposal would be passed round.
The Board requested all members who have any Trust Fund proposals to send them via ASFA-L for discussion.
Lengthy discussion was held regarding the preparation of a manual dealing with the ASFISIS software and ASFA data entry. FAO hoped to do this by the end of the year, and US$ 6000 was set aside for the services of a consultant, should one be required.
The possibility of setting up an ASFA Homepage on the FAO Internet Server was considered and FAO said they would get more information on this matter. The ASFA Trust Fund could be used.
The creation of a Logo for ASFA was discussed. The Board agreed that a competition for designing the new logo should be organised. FAO, CSA and IOC would follow-up on this. It was agreed that submissions to the competition should be made by 31st December 1996 and that a prize of US$ 2500 would be made available from the ASFA Trust Fund.
14. IMMEDIATE OBJECTIVES IN DEVELOPING THE PARTNERSHIP
The Chair invited the Board's comments regarding the future development of ASFA.
Regarding the topic of grey literature, IOC referred to last year's decision by the Board to include a location statement in the Notes Field. CSA reminded Partners of the details regarding this decision.
The possibility of each ASFA Partner storing all of the grey literature documents which they have processed for ASFA (so that they may be made available for document delivery when requested) was discussed in detail. Many centres reported that they did not have the facilities to do this, either because they do not have library facilities or because they do not always see the original or full texts. There was general consent as to the uniqueness and great importance of grey literature and it was felt that it was better to have at least some information about the grey literature even if 100% document conservation and delivery could not be guaranteed by the Partners.
It was reported that increasing the number of Partners and improving quality of data input have been the major priorities over the past years. It was generally agreed that both were very important and should be kept as priorities.
CSA enquired as to whether there were any other International Organizations or Entities that could be linked with ASFA, such as the EU.
Dr. W. Kirchner referred to the EU Project MARSOURCE and agreed to follow-up and provide some information.
Ms. C. Thiery mentioned the involvement of IUCN in the International Coral Reef Initiative project and suggested the possibility of ASFA's involvement in the project. The FAO, ASFA Secretariat, was asked to contact ICRI.
Mr. D. Moulder thanked Mr. D. James for all his past efforts in negotiating the new Partnership and Publishing Agreements and also in increasing the number of Partners in such a short space of time.
16. PLACE AND DATE OF THE NEXT MEETING
The Board accepted with gratitude the offer of Ms. Z. Brzeska, on behalf of Dr. Ganowiak and with agreement from Professor Polanski, to host the next Advisory Board Meeting at the Sea Fisheries Institute, Gdynia, Poland, some time in May 1997. SFI agreed to confirm the exact dates of the Meeting.
Co-sponsoring ASFA Partners
Abbreviations used in Body of Report
ACC - United Nations Advisory Committee on Coordination
AGRIS - International Information System for Agricultural Sciences and Technology
ASCII - American Standard Code for Information Interchange
ASFA - Aquatic Sciences and Fisheries Abstracts
ASFIS - Aquatic Sciences and Fisheries Information System
BF - Informations- und Dokumentstionsstelle, Bundesforschungsanstalt fur Fischerei
CCF - Common Communication Format
CEMARE - The Centre for Economics and Management of Aquatic Resources (UK)
CIDA - Canadian International Development Agency
CIFT - Central Institute of Fisheries Technology (India)
CSA - Cambridge Scientific Abstracts
DFO - Department of Fisheries and Oceans (Canada)
FAO - Food and Agriculture Organization
FCCC - Framework Convention on Climate Change Fisheries and Oceanography, Informcenter (RUSSIA)
FISHLIT - Database of fisheries literature produced by JLB Smith Inst. of Ichthyology (South Africa)
HELCOM - Helsinki Commission
IAMSLIC - International Association of Aquatic and Marine Science Libraries and Information Centers
ICLARM - International Center for Living Aquatic Resources Management
IFREMER - Institut Francais de Recherche pour l'Exploitation de la Mer, Service de la Documentation Bibliotheque Centre de Brest (France)
IMO - International Maritime Organization
IOC - Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (Unesco)
IPIMAR - Instituto Portugues de Investigacao Maritima, Divisao de Informacao e Documentacao (Portugal)
IRIS - ASFISIS retrieval interface by Dr. E. de Smet
IUCN - The World Conservation Union
JFRCA - Japan Fisheries Resource Conservation Association (Japan)
KMFRI - Kenya Marine and Fisheries Research Institute
MIM-IODE - Marine Information Management, International Oceanographic Data and Information Exchange
NIO - National Institute of Oceanography (India)
NISC - National Information Services Corporation (South Africa)
NMDIS - National Marine Data and Information Service, State Oceanic Administration (People's Republic of China)
NOAA - National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
NRC- National Research Council (Canada)
ODIN - ASFISIS interface for data input by Dr. E. de Smet
PIMRIS - Pacific Islands Marine Resources Information System (Fiji)
PML - Plymouth Marine Laboratory
RECOSCIX-WIO RDC - Regional Cooperation in Scientific Information Exchange in the Western Indian Ocean, Regional Dispatch Center (Kenya)
SFI - Sea Fisheries Institute (SFI), Poland
TRN - Temporary Record Number
UAS - University of Agricultural Sciences, College of Fisheries (India)
UN/DOALOS -United Nations Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea (UN- Secretariat, NY, USA)
UNCED - United Nations Conference on Environment and Development
UNEP - United Nations Environment Progamme
VNIRO - Russian Federal Research Institute of Marine
YugNIRO - Southern Science Research Institute of Marine Fisheries and Oceanography (Ukraine)
AGENDA