Thirty years and numerous upgrades since inception, FishBase is now the largest and most widely accessed global online information system on fish, providing unrestricted and quick access to key information –morphology and physiology, names, genetics and aquaculture, trophic ecology, reproduction and life-history traits, population dynamics, fish as food, fish pictures, fish sounds and distribution– to a diverse community of fish enthusiasts. It is recognized as the global online encyclopedia for fish.
SeaLifeBase, inspired by and patterned after FishBase, covers all type of marine organisms apart from fish and an important platform for biological and ecological information necessary for biodiversity and ecosystem studies.
Together, FishBase and SeaLifeBase advances humanity’s understanding of aquatic biodiversity which fosters the sustainable management and conservation of the world’s oceans.
Reports and tools generated from these databases when combined with other online resources enable the conduct of stock assessments that support developing countries in achieving SDG14.
Since 2000, they are scientifically guided by a consortium which is composed at present of 13 international academic and research institutions which ensures their relevance to evolving global issues on biodiversity, environmental recovery and protection, sustainable development, fisheries management and the impacts of climate change. To be more effective in fulfilling their responsibilities, the consortium members convene an annual steering committee meeting and a symposium showcasing the diverse applications and contributions of FishBase and SeaLifeBase across various domains. This year is the fourth time that the Royal Museum for Central Africa in Tervuren, one of the founding members, will be hosting the steering committee meeting and symposium (in hybrid format), to be held on 4 to 8 September 2023. The 2023 FishBase and SeaLifeBase Symposium will focus on fish diversity and aquatic databases and aims to bring together various approaches used to study this fascinating vertebrate group and the marine environment. Presentations will encompass a wide range of fish-related studies, spanning from local to global scales, morphology to genetics, fundamental to applied research, data-poor to data-rich regions, and from databases to models.
Daniel Pauly presenting at the 2022 FishBase and SeaLifeBase Symposium held at the WorldFish headquarters in Penang, Malaysia. Photo credit: WorldFish
Esteemed speakers at the symposium include:
- Cornelia Nauen (Mundus maris, Belgium)
- Jessica Meeuwig (University of Western Australia, Australia)
- Fabrice Teletchea (Université de Lorraine, France)
- Daniel Pauly (University of British Columbia, Canada)
- Rainer Froese (Helmholtz-Centre for Ocean Research (GEOMAR), Germany)
- Athanassios Tsikliras (Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece)
- Austin Humphries (University of Rhode Island, USA)
- Nazli Demirel (Institute of Marine Sciences and Management, Turkey)
- Lauren Sallan (Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology, Japan)
- Patrick Pata (University of British Columbia, Canada)
- Peter Mullen (Sunbird Images OHG, Germany)
The call for abstracts is now officially open. Those interested to be part of this momentous event by giving a presentation may submit their abstracts to Tobias Musschoot (tobias.musschoot(AT)africamuseum.be) in this format:
- Title
- Author(s): full first and last name(s) (last name in capitals) of all authors; please underline presenting authors
- Affiliation(s): full name of institution, city and country. In superscript to indicate different institutions.
- Abstract: in English, max. 400 words excluding title, author(s), affiliation(s).
- No key words.
- Email address of corresponding author.
Deadline for submissions is on August 13th!
