FishBase and SeaLifeBase: #Timeflies

“It always seems impossible until it’s done” – Nelson Mandela

Each year, around this time, The FishBase Consortium meets to review the achievements of the past year, as well as set new goals for the next 12 months. A symposium is also held alongside these meetings. This meeting is hosted by the different organizations that are part of the FishBase Consortium and last year, it was FIN’s turn to host the said event. The four day event of the 13 th annual FishBase Symposium was a real challenge, but looking back, we say that it was a success! It was held in Los Baños, Philippines home of the FishBase Information and Research Group, Inc. (FIN), to mark the 25th and 10th year anniversaries of FishBase and SealifeBase, respectively. Here are the summary and some photos of the symposium and other anniversary celebration activities.

FishBase Symposium

[Day 1, Sept. 01, 2015]

Presentations by FishBase Consortium members and their associates, invited speakers from Philippine universities and research institutions emphasized on the theme, “FishBase and SeaLifeBase for Teaching and Research in Aquatic Science”. FishBase Consortium members who presented are: Dr. Rainer Froese, FishBase Consortium Coordinator, Helmholtz Center for Ocean Research, Germany; Dr. Nicolas Bailly, Helenic Centre for Marine Research, Greece; Dr. Jos Snoeks, Musée Royal de l'Afrique Centrale, Belgium; Dr. Kostas Stergiou, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece; Dr. Markus Skyttner, Swedish Museum of Natural History, Sweden; Dr. Fumito Muto, Tokai University, Japan; Dr. Mathieu Colléter, University of British Columbia, Canada; and Ms. Regina Bacalso, ECOFISH-USAID. 

Local presentors from distinguished research institutions and state universities include Dr. Reiner Wassmann, International Rice Research Institute; Dr. Rex Montebon, Conservation International-Philippines; Dr. Adelaida Palma, NFRDI-BFAR; Mr. Christian Elloran, ASEAN Centre for Biodiversity; Mr. Patrick Co, World Wildlife Fund Philippines; Dr. Cesar Luna, UP Open University; Dr. Benjamin Vallejo, Jr., UP Diliman; and Dr. Asuncion de Guzman, Mindanao State University Naawan.

Dr. Daniel Pauly, Principal Investigator of the Sea Around Us, SeaLifeBase and co-founder of FishBase gave his keynote address entitled “FishBase: an improbable success, and what it inspired”. Dr. Cornelia Nauen of Mundus Maris and newly elected FishBase Consortium member, led the inspirational talk. Dr. Ma. Lourdes Palomares, Chair of the FishBase Consortium in 2014-2015, delivered the conclusion and challenged everyone not only to make full use of FishBase and SeaLifeBase to train future resource managers but also to create synergies that would lead to long-term collaborations with FIN. Participants have heard full potential of these two “indispensable” knowledge sources [quoted from one of the speakers], to supplement teaching and research activities and might as some would take the lead for future collaborations.

Videos of the conference talks are available here: 13th FishBase Symposium Videos.

Art Competition Awards Ceremony

[Day 1, Sept. 01, 2015]

A poster making and a digital photo competition were conducted from May 15 to August 14 with the SeaLifeBase team as lead. The digital photo contest was opened to all amateur Filipino photographers. Out of 34 entries, a graduate student from the University of the Philippines Los Baños, Alvin Simon won First prize and the People’s choice Award. The poster making contest was opened to all primary and secondary schools in Los Baños, Laguna. Entries for the primary school level came from: Maquiling School Inc. (first place)., South Hill School Inc., The Learning Place International and Joy in Learning Center; for the secondary school level: Christian School International (first place), South Hill School Inc., Los Baños National High School, Batong Malake. Winners went home with cash prizes, free tickets from Manila Ocean Park (MOP) and anniversary freebies. Judges of the digital photo and art competitions include FishBase and SeaLifeBase in-house artists, Rachel Atanacio and Micheal Angleo Yap, well-known Los Baños-based photographer Eric John Azucena and IRRI Mesuem’s Curator and renowned painter Paul Benjamin Hilario.

Poster Exhibit and Hands-on Orientation on the use of FishBase and SeaLifeBase

[Day 1 & 2, Sept. 01-02, 2015]

FIN invited local schools and research institutions to participate in these anniversary activities. These two activities aimed to inform students, teachers and researchers on the use and applications of tools and reports generated from these Global Species Databases (GSDs). Participants from the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) and over 130 students of South Hill School Inc. and Colegio de Los Baños were oriented about FishBase and SeaLifeBase and on how they can access the vast data collated and maximize their use for acaemic and research purposes.

Orientation/Training on Understanding and Maximizing the use of FishBase and SeaLifeBase, On-Line Global Species Databases

[Day 2 & 4, Sept. 02 & 04, 2015]

A separate and more in-dpeth orientation and training were conducted to strengthen understanding and capability of researchers in maximizing the utility of FishBase and SeaLifeBase for their work, research and publications. The short training focused on the use of the two databases in species identification and validation, taxonomy and nomenclature, species distribution, basic biological information and even related information on conservation. This training course was attended by representatives from BFAR and State Colleges and Universities (September 02) and Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) and other BFAR agencies from different regions of the Philippines (September 04).

Workshop on New Technology for Small Scale Fisheries Data Collection

[Day 4, Sept. 04, 2015]

This workshop was organized by FIN in collaboration with Oceana Philippines and BFAR, with resource person coming from the Smithsonian Institution, Dr. Stephen Box. Due to a hurricane that was poised to hit Dr. Box’s home location at the time, he was not able to travel to the Philippines, but for the love of science and sea, technology prevailed and a video conference was set-up, with Dr. Daniel Pauly of Sea Around Us (GFC-UBC) as facilitator and counterpart resource person inside the session hall. Participants were representatives from BFAR, PSA, Oceana, SEAFDEC, Greenpeace, GreEn, Rare, NGOs for Fisheries Reform, UPLB-SESAM and some members of the FishBase Consortium.

A “Fish Landing App” was introduced by Dr. Box. This was designed for Android devices and according to him, “data which will be collected using these tools will greatly contribute to data analysis and can be a primary basis for any plans related to fisheries management and sustainability”.

Other Anniversary Activities

Book-giving:

Total number of books:

Books (156) and journal titles (92) on fisheries, aquaculture, conservation, biodiversity, fisheries management

Information Education and Communication materials:

fish rulers (200), maturity posters (200), bookmarks (200), CDs on FshBase and References on Philippine Fishes and Water Bodies (100)

Philippine library recipients:

Cavite State University in Naic, Cavite,

Cebu Technological University in San Francisco, Camotes, Cebu,

Laguna State Polytechnic University in Los Baños, Laguna

Northern Iloilo Polytechnic State College Barotac Viejo Campus in Iloilo

University of the Philippines Los Baños

FishBase Consortium Annual Meeting

[Day 2 & 3, Sept. 02- 03, 2015]

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We would like to extend our sincerest gratitude to all our donors, partners, collaborators and online users for their invaluable help and support throughout the years. The 2015 Anniversary event served as a tribute to all of you. We also take this opportunity to announce this year’s 14th Annual FishBase Symposium which will be held at the Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle Paris, France on 9th September 2016 with the theme “Documenting Regional Biodiversity using FishBase and SeaLifeBase”. Pretty sure it will become another remarkable event of the FishBase Consortium.

For more information on the presentations and activities, check the event's book of abstracts available here: 13th FishBase Symposium Book of Abstracts.