Data Curation, Fisheries, and Ecosystem-based Management: the Case Study of the Pecheker Database

Abstract

The scientific monitoring of the Southern Ocean French fishing industry is based on the use the Pecheker database. Pecheker is dedicated to the digital curation of the data collected on field by scientific observers and which analysis allows the scientists of the Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle institution to provide guidelines and advice for the regulation of the fishing activity, the protection of the fish stocks and the protection of the marine ecosystems. The template of Pecheker has been developed to make the database adapted to the ecosystem-based management concept. Considering the global context of biodiversity erosion, this modern approach of management aims to take account of the environmental background of the fisheries to ensure their sustainable development. Completeness and high quality of the raw data is a key element for an ecosystem-based management database such as Pecheker. Here, we present the development of this database as a case study of fisheries data curation to be shared with the readers. Full code to deploy a database based on the Pecheker template is provided in supplementary materials. Considering the success factors we could identify, we propose a discussion about how the community could build a global fisheries information system based on a network of small databases including interoperability standards.