S
I O F
P
OUTH WEST NDIAN
CEAN
ISHERIES
ROGRAMME
(SWIOFP)
NEWSFLASH 11: October 2004
An occasional newsletter to update
members of SWIOFP on current
develo pments.
The second workshop dealing with data management was hosted by
KMFRI in Mombasa on 14 & 15 October 2004.
Significant progress was made.
Administration
· The SWIOFP secretariat has most active in facilitating the extensive finance and travel
arrangements for the various regional activities underway. This includes maintaining the interface
between the SWIOFP member countries and the World Bank.
Project activities
· MCM's Dr. Johan Groeneveld has collated all the suggestions generated at the Durban workshop
into a final version of the Science Plan. It is expected that with only minor improvements, this
Plan will form the basis of the Appraisal meeting in Maputo and the eventual submission to the
GEF. He further generated a set of templates and guidelines in order to initiate the anticipated
costing of the different component activities. These were made available to delegates attending the
2nd data workshop.
· The TAFIRI group has finalised plans for its next workshop dealing with procurement, and the
identification of needs for different activities of the workplan components. This is to be held on 2
and 3 December in Zanzibar and will be mostly devoted to costing of the various activities already
defined.
· The Madagascar delegation has been drafting initial concepts dealing with possible options for
project management. These will be circulated to partners and later discussed at a special session
one day prior to the January 2005 Plenary in Maputo.
· The French delegation has confirmed its commitment to developing the legal plan, tentatively
scheduled for 29 November in La Reunion. This date requires further confirmation.
2nd Data Management Workshop
This all-important workshop was held north of Mombasa and attended by delegates from Kenya,
Madagascar, Tanzania, France, Mozambique, Mauritius, Seychelles and South Africa. There were two
primary objectives for this workshop:
1. To identify needs and anticipated costs associated with component 1 of the science plan- i.e.
the data gathering activities, both historic and new and
2. Developing a strategy for data handling of new and national country data.
The meeting was guided by the needs-template that had earlier been designed by the science plan
workshop. Defining needs and costs requires a detailed understanding of the actual process involved,
so that for each of the 13 activities of the Component 1, a detailed set of actions was deliberated and
confirmed. Needs were separated between those at country level and those required for regional
activities only. In order to assist the process, a "virtual" country was chosen and needs identified
accordingly.
A number of important issues were identified and deliberated.
· It was noted that the sourcing of existing and historic data and information was a priority but
that such data must be of direct application to SWIOFP. It was felt that historic fishing
company data may prove to be unreliable so that only positively verified data would be
considered from known reliable sources.
· The capture and conversion of historic national data was seen as a most valuable
exercise, not only in generating the SWIOFP data atlas but also in assisting individual
countries with their own improved management and application of scientific data.
· A new activity was identified, namely that of inter-calibration of national and historic
data sets, involving statistical and experimental comparisons, data conversions etc.
· There was discussion and constructive debate on the actual way data would be handled
and managed. Various sensitivities and practical considerations were identified and it
was noted that the overall objective and vision of SWIOFP is to have a common
strategy for the region's data, ultimately resulting in a common database. However, it
was recognised that this could not be attained immediately and that this would be an
evolving process so that a common system of sharing data to benefit all the countries
would be achieved.
Hence the following arrangements were proposed.
· Attention would urgently be required to assist with conversion and inter-calibration of
individual country data sets, both historic and future.
· The data being held by SWIOFP would need to have common standards with a
minimum level of commonality (such as defined areas, gear types, etc).
· Standardised formats for future data collection would be developed and where possible
included in national data collecting systems.
· Specific data handling protocols will be developed and formally agreed to. These
would protect the intellectual rights of individual persons and institutions. Access to
data etc will also be defined and use of such data flagged accordingly.
· An overall data-manager would need to be appointed and located in the Regional Node
responsible for managing shared data and related matters. Each country would need to
appoint a data person and it was noted that a data-management committee or working
group be established (possibly extending the current group in some way?)
It was recognised that there may be existing databases in use elsewhere in the world that are
suitable for adoption by SWIOFP, thus saving huge time and costs. The presentation on the
French/ West Africa STATBASE was noted and seemed a possible candidate. Accordingly, a
new activity was proposed that would evaluate and possibly implement such a system.
Updated Table of Activities reflecting approximate time schedules
INTERIM PROGRESS & PLANS
Task / Theme
Action
Status
Deadline
Finalise pdf-B extension
Completed
-
(Pre-appraisal)
Plan for 4th plenary
Underway
Mid-January 2005
(Pre-appraisal)
Plan for 5th plenary (final appraisal)
Preliminary stage only
March 2005
Secretariat
Maintain SWIOFP website; initiate
Ongoing
(IIP-Mozambique)
"FishChat"
Final version of project submitted
Basic framework
Mid 2005
conceived
Interface with other WIO projects;
Ongoing
Ongoing
establish links
Project Launch
-
Late 2005
Final plan Science plan/ workshop.
Completed
Science Plan
Incorporate other workshop
Underway
End 2004
(MCM-S.Afr)
recommendations develop science
plan with cost estimates
Questionnaire circulated and
Underway, countries
30 Sept.
Data Management
submitted by institutions
need to reply urgently
(KMFRI-Kenya)
Final data & IT plan + Workshop
Pending questionnaire
Mid October 04,
submissions
Mombasa
Harmonise procurement procedures
Ongoing
Operations &
Finalise procurement plan
Underway
End 2004
Procurement
2nd Specialist workshop
Planned
1st week December-
(TAFIRI- Tanzania)
Zanzibar
Questionnaire to focal points
Underway
30 Sep 04
Legal issues
Collate response from focal points
Underway
31 Oct 04
(France)
Workshop
To be planned
November 04.
Reunion
Draft management plan developed
Achieved
Project
Circulate plan for comment.
Underway
31 Oct 04
management
(Madagascar)
Specialist workshop
Planned
At Plenary in Jan 05
Appoint team of specialists Achieved
Sustain
National Focal
Workshop to develop country needs
Achieved
Points
and expectations; document prepared
Submit contribution to Science Plan
Completed
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Instituto Nacional de Investigação Pesqueira (IIP)
SWIOFP coordinator
Maputo, Mozambique
Tel: + 258 1 490536 / 490307 / 499963
Fax + 258 1 492112
Email: swiofp@moziip.org
Web: www.swiofp.org