Prof S.Kannaiyan

Indian ocean and its biodiversity is a major thrust area for countries bordering Indian Ocean for the developmental process. On this context the questions that need to be addressed start from basic questions like how many species are present in the region? What are they? What are their habitats? Are they useful or not? How many of them are threatened ones, etc. We also need to have answers for questions like, what will be the condition of corals reefs or mangroves after fifty years? What will be the status of marine turtles of Indian coast after 10 years? What was the status 20 year back?. Etc. These questions can only be answered with databases that have scientifically and systematically collated information from basic research. But what we know of the components of coastal and marine biodiversity or changes over time are highly scattered and are not often readily accessible to all. Although much research has been carried out, or is currently going on, many initiatives are unrelated, data are difficult to trace and even more difficult to integrate. What is available is often in non-interoperable formats, compounded by uncertain taxonomic identities that underscore the need for a scientific information system that enables to transfer marine biodiversity information.

In the last two decades, study of the sea has leaped forward with the advancement in science and technology, improved sensors to observe the sea by direct measurements as well as remotely from space, and in particular with the progress in information technology. Remotely sensed and in situ observations are increasingly being made available through the Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS), creating an unprecedented amount of geo-referenced environmental and ecosystem data. Computer and communications capabilities permit rapid assembly, and meaningful analysis of immense volumes of diverse data. Moreover, earth and life scientists have developed highly capable systems for planning, coordinating, and executing coherent and effective programs on a global scale.

Understanding the biodiversity in the context of global warming, biological invasion, IPR, etc. are need of the time. We need tools that are handy for formulating ecologically sound policies. It is heartening to see that in the recent time, some global initiatives have started for helping all the spectrum of people. Global initiatives are grouped mainly into two main categories viz.(a) Taxonomic databases readily available are Integrated Taxonomic Information System (IT IS), Species 2000, ETI bioinformatics, Animaldiversity Web, Taxonomic database working Group, etc. Some taxon specific databases are also available like Fishbase, Cephbase, Reefbase, and Algaebase. The main objectives of these databases are to create an easily accessible databse with reliable information on species name and their hierarchical classification. The IT IS includes documented taxonomic information of flora and fauna from both aquatic and terrestrial habitats. The goal of the species 2000 project is to create a validated checklist of all the world's species.

In a group of georeferenced biological databases, Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) needs a special mention. It has 179 data providers and more than 100 millions records on it. It uses distributed computing platform specially developed for biological data transfer. It gives biological data of marine as well as land organisms. The special technologies developed for that includes DiGIR server, BioCASE, DarwinCore, etc. The geographically referenced data is useful for further scientific analysis. Some of the tools available for scientific analysis include Desktop GARP, BIOmapper, etc. The new technologies like Mobile computing, Distributed computing, Grid computing, neural networks, W3 consortium, etc. give immense scope for these georeferenced databases for further expansion. We have already distributed computing platform like ENVIS (Environmental Information System) and BTIS (Biotechnology Information System Network).

Prof S.Kannaiyan

Census of Marine Life (CoML) is a one such recent initiative in the marine context. CoML is a growing global network of researchers involving more than 70 countries engaged in a ten year initiative (2000 - 2010) to assess and explain the diversity, distribution and abundance of life in the ocean and the changes in it over time (http://www.coml.org). The Ocean Biogeographic Information System (OBIS) (http://www.jobis.org) is the information component of the CoML and the marine component of Global Biodiversity Information Facility (http://www.gbif.org/). OBIS is a web based provider of global geo-referenced information on accurately identified marine organisms. OBIS contains species level and habitat level databases and provides a variety of spatial query tools for visualizing the relationships between species and their environment.

To make it more effective and manageable, OBIS has established 7 regional nodes (RON). The Indian Ocean Biogeographic Information System (IndOBIS) is one of the seven regional nodes, which is responsible for the collection, collation , and dissemination of data and information about the biodiversity in the Indian Ocean region through the portal http://www.indobis.org/. IndOBIS will become the principal provider of biodiversity data of the Indian Ocean and make this information available in a multidimensional geographic context; promote communication and awareness to user groups at all levels, using the appropriate information tools; and enable informed decision making processes leading to sustainable use of natural resources. I am very happy to learn that the National Institute of Oceanography and the National Chemical Laboratory have been entrusted with the responsibility of managing the IndOBIS regional node and started functioning since 2005.

India, being the largest country bordering the Indian Ocean, is primarily concerned about the Indian Ocean region and its biodiversity. Indian Ocean is the third largest Ocean in the world, occupying 21 % of the world's sea area, contributing to the production of living resources with an estimated annual yield of 8 million tons of capture fisheries. The biodiversity elements of Indian Ocean are relatively less known compared to other World Oceans. What we know of the contents of coastal and marine biodiversity of the Indian Ocean region or changes in them Over time are highly scattered and often are not readily accessible to all.

I am given to understand that the major activities of the IndOBIS involve (a) collection and collation of taxonomic and geographic information on marine species of Indian Ocean origin from peer-reviewed literatures and (b) digitization of marine specimens and related information of Indian Ocean origin. These data will undergo validation and scrutiny of the respective taxonomic/ subject matter experts and make available through its web portal http://www.indobis.org

I am very pleased to know that the IndOBIS web portal now has more than 35000 species records with their common names, synonyms, taxonomical hierarchy, biogeography, etc. Now five museum data sets are a1so available on the portal. All this data are processed by infomatics infrstructure of IndOBIS. I am sure and confident in course of time IndOBIS would be able to provide authenticated data and information on biodiversity of Indian Ocean to user community. The IndOBIS also promises to deliver several tangible products by leveraging on the networking of potential custodians of the data and the proposed deliverables, which include:

• Electronic catalogue of known biota of Indian Ocean
• Digitised museum collections
• Digital literature bank
• Databank on taxonomic experts (DIOT)
• Database of datasets

Also IndOBIS would initiate developing products, tools, and protocols for marine biodiversity informatics and help to evolve guidelines to encourage information and communication between technology and marine biological data management. They also have a proposal to make the database multilingual to suite the need of the coastal communities.

I am happy to learn that this is the first workshop being organized by the IndOBIS for the potential data providers from India. It is also in the planning process similar types of data providers workshop in other Indian Ocean rim countries for the benefit of the data providers from those regions. The workshop is primarily aimed mostly in familiarizing the advancements made in the biodiversity of the Indian Ocean and to give a hands-on experience of the IndOBIS web portal, particularly in data inputs, validation and retrieval, digitizing of museum specimens, etc.. Another important goal of the workshop is to identify partners and evolve strategies so as to formulate viable projects on Indian Ocean biodiversity.

I hope the workshop will strive to achieve all its objectives, particularly in identifying the potential data providers and finalise the project proposals that are strategically important for protecting and conserving the biodiversity of the Indian Ocean.

I have great pleasure in presiding over the inaugural session of the workshop. Have interactive discussions and wish you for a successful scientific delebrations and grand success of the workshop.