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22 September 2021 - FIRMS eTWG7 on GRSF - Preparatory Meeting with SFP-FAO

Meeting Notes

Participants:

FAO (Marc Taconet, Anne Elise Nieblas, Bracken van Niekerk, Aureliano Gentile)
FishSOurce (Braddock Spear, Susana Segurado, Patricia Amorim)

Background

Regarding the GRSF, the TWG and the FSC12 meetings are cornerstone events involving FAO internal staff and FIRMS partners. The main idea of the TWG is to showcase the progress done so far on the GRSF, highlight challenges and draft recommendations for the upcoming FSC12 to be held on the 18-21 October 2021. This includes the work done, and to be done, on traceability units and area standards.

This preparatory meeting is to identify where contributions can be made by SFP colleagues (in the form of statements, slides, examples and/or testimonies).

DAY 1

Agenda item 3 - Report on the technical work (FIRMS Secretariat, FORTH, SFP, UW)

  • Braddock Spear mentioned funding that SFP have applied to the Ocean Innovation Challenge (OIC) - UNDP on Sustainable Fisheries. The proposal consists of 3 parts relating to: 1) Traceability units validated and published, 2) Pilot projects to test the IDs (case studies of Philippines blue swimmer crab and Argentine Hoki) from producer to consumer (in the case of Hoki it is Mc Donald’s); 3) Develop a business plan with hired consultants to explore potential around traceability units and the maintenance of the database. Currently they are on the shortlist, but will only know results in January 2022, and if successful work to begin in February-March 2022.
  • From a FAO perspective on traceability matters, the role of FAO has not yet been finalized, however standards, guidelines and best practices are in the scope of FAO activities.
  • A short live demonstration for the newcomers to the GRSF was suggested (by Nancie Cummings).
  • Issues on area standards were recalled. For example, missing national GIS layers from countries are causing several stock records to not match properly for merging. Therefore, further work to be done on the validation is needed whilst adhering on specific standards, for which FAO is hiring a consultant to review such records (at least 300 records should be reviewed by the end of the year) and to collect and develop supporting GIS related information for national water area geo-references.

ACTIONS:

  1. SFP to produce 1 slide on the SFP technical work produced so far (e.g. SFP expose up-to-date API for data harvest).
  2. FIRMS Secretariat to complete the rest (with contribution from RAM-FORTH).

Agenda item 4 - Pilot validation of UUIDs and release of GRSF VRE - experimented validation & publication method

  • FAO/FIRMS Partners: UUIDs have been assigned to FIRMS records and Partners were informed. Important to clearly explain the workflow of validation, its methodology and publication of records/UUIDs in the GRSF.

ACTIONS:

  1. SFP to contribute with 1-2 slides on validation aspects.
  2. FIRMS Secretariat to complete the rest.

Agenda item 5 - Report on testing of UUIDs (FIRMS Secretariat, ICES, SFP, UW)

  • ICES: Have contributed a statement, which will be included in the presentation in the slide “The integration of UUIDs in partners DBs”. Updates were also provided for Sandeel and Nephrops functional units.
  • SFP: Most probably won’t have anything to contribute here, haven’t really tested Fishery UUIDs in FishSource due to the lack of fishery records. This work has not yet been implemented, but conversation have taken place towards the initiation of this work.
  • SFP: Susana recalled that some pilot tests were done previously, but issues around area standards prevented further testing as fisheries couldn’t be identified with the codes uniquely. To be checked with Mr Merul if UUIDs have been added in the FishSource database. This could further fit in with the traceability unit’s conversation.
  • SFP might have testimonies on their use of the GRSF console, Catalog, Viewer.
  • Anne-Elise to add her inputs on her analysis using the Swagger and R-APIs and competency queries.

ACTIONS:

  1. SFP to contribute with 1-2 slides on: i)UUID added/to be added in SFP (Check with Mr Merul the status of the development), ii) any statements evaluating the GRSF VREs, console (catalogue, map viewer), APIs, competency queries.
  2. Anne Elise to produce slide(s) on Examples of web use of UUIDs.
  3. FIRMS Secretariat to complete the rest (e.g. GRSF APIs returning UUIDs vs FIRMS IDs).

Agenda item 6 & 7 - Report on the GRSF database

  • Idea is to focus what still requires action in the database.
  • Mention Anne-Elise’s work on the StockSmart DB and how it differs to the RAM DB (USA stocks specifically), as well as with the different area codes. The need here would be to focus on specific countries.
  • Produce some figures on published vs pending records – RAM, FIRMS, FishSource.
  • Include some “difficult” cases that require manual examination.
  • FAO to go into detail about what each source provides, i.e. RAM: assessment units, FIRMS: catch, stock status narratives, FishSource: stocks and fisheries, etc.
  • For the section “Required improvements on standards – geographic resolution of records”, the points would be to highlight the main issues with area standards. The low hanging fruit would be to introduce “State waters” within 1 nm, especially in the cases where the location is in a small bay, as these are already defined. Ideally, we are working towards a global standard (Susana and Patricia to provide examples where the current resolution is ambiguous in the GRSF. Anne Elise to potentially contribute with the work done in the SDG questionnaire on FAO area 37, FAO area 57 and Australia in the SDG questionnaire).
  • SPF raised the issue on Marine Resources type of record and the need of improved definition.
  • FAO to draft a slide with simple conclusions at the end.
  • SFP to have a separate call with FAO regarding the traceability unit’s discussion (scheduled Friday, 24/09/2021).

ACTIONS:

  1. SFP to produce 1 slide with some “difficult” cases that require manual examination (e.g. state waters Mexico etc.), including a brief explanation on how the data are compiled in the FishSource database.
  2. SPF to provide 1 slide of needs and issues on the use of Marine Resources and the need of an improved definition.
  3. Bracken, same as above for FIRMS records.
  4. Anne Elise to produce 1 slide with examples on StockSmart, and potentially on the work done FAO area 37 , FAO area 57 and Australia in the SDG questionnaire.
  5. Bracken to produce some figures on published vs pending records – RAM, FIRMS, FishSource.
  6. FIRMS Secretariat to produce a slide to wrap-up conclusions and forward actions.

DAY 2

Agenda item 8 - Data use and Partners’ perspectives on the GRSF

  • These are mainly stand-alone presentations and open discussions among participants.

ACTIONS:

  1. SFP (Braddock Spear) to produce a presentation with some of his perspectives (e.g. including OIC-UNDP application) to be delivered on day 2 along the following questions:
  2. what can GRSF contribute to SDG 14.4.1 reporting / dissemination
  3. what can GRSF contribute to Traceability
  4. what can GRSF contribute to Partners’ work
  5. what user access policy for UUIDs / for Content
  6. what role for Partners, according to their mandate
  7. any role for actors outside FIRMS partners

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