9 June 2016 GRSF requirements - Elements of the database and UUIDs¶
Meeting Notes:
Topics: Finalizing discussion about elements of the GRSF database and initializing discussion on UUID.
Participants: FishSource (Braddock Spear, Susana Segurado); RAM (Daniel Hively, Mike Melnychuk); FORTH (Yannis Marketakis); FAO (Anton Ellenbroek, Giulia Gorelli, Aureliano Gentile)
Notes¶
Elements of the database
- Area. For the stock, the participants agreed that it should be the boundaries of the biological stock (if known) or the area of extent of the assessment unit. According to FishSource, the resolution required for traceability is the one allowing to identify assessment unit (related to stocks) or management unit (related to fisheries). The field name was changed into "Assessment/Distribution Area" for stocks and "Fishing/Management Area" for fisheries.
- Type. The group clarified the definition for stock in the GRSF context. It is the biological stock (when information is available) or the assessment unit (i.e. the portion of the population covered by the stock assessment). For stocks, participants agreed to include the values "biological stock", "assessment unit", "resource" to cover all possible cases. For fisheries, the proposed values based on FIRMS classification are fine, considering that the type management unit is the most relevant for FishSource.
- Management Entity. A Master Data Management related issue, according to FishSource it would be very useful to have (and maintained) a compiled list of Management Entities.
- DataBase Source. The issue on the ownership was acknowledged. FishSource and RAM expressed no specific concern being all of their data under the public domain with links to original sources. Specific terms of use might be considered due to the copyright schemes of the data owners, and records may inherit the terms of use defined at collection level.
- Reporting year. It was recognized the need for: 1) capability to differentiate across time/assessors multiple assessments against the same stock; 2) reference year for those indicators that are subject to change over time (like exploitation rate, abundance level catches); 3) the year of last update of a GRSF record. RAM has a reporting year embedded in the citation. As reference year for indicators and catches, RAM has a range (the first and last year in which any information is provided.
UUIDs (universally unique identifier)
- The working file on UUID "GRSF_UUID.xlsx" was presented and the discussion initiated, according to the examples provided and to questions marked in red.
- There was a discussion on whether the field "Reporting year" should be used to build a UUID. The participants agreed that it is important to keep track of the evolution of a stock/fishery, but this does not necessarily require the assignment of different UUID to successive updates of the same stock/fishery. This is more a matter of how the database is designed.
- There was general agreement on the minimum data requirements to assign an UUID to stocks and fisheries and for traceability.
Follow-up actions
- FishSource to provide definition of assessment unit
- A new call will be launched by FAO to further progress on the collection of the requirements, possibly along the week 20-25 of June
- Anton Ellenbroek and Aureliano Gentile will attend the BlueBRIDGE TCom (technical commission) next week in Crete and will report the progress made so far in the GRSF database specifications.
- A technical meeting with developers will follow soon.
Working files
- Details and further comments are stored in: "GRSF_MinimumDataRequirements.xlsx” (Worksheet: MinimumDataRequirement_May2016, Column: Answers 9 June 2016) http://goo.gl/DizvHa "GRSF_UUIDs.xlsx" (Worksheet UUID_June2016) http://goo.gl/0RLZ8f
