Fishes of the Fishes of the WorldWorld
In the ComputerIn the Computer
Rainer FroeseGermany
The VisionThe Vision
Back in 1987, two scientists had an idea… Create a database with key-information on 200 commercial
fish species Use it for research Make it available to 500 fisheries managers in developing
countries
19 years later The database contains information on 29,000 species It has over 1,000 citations in the scientific literature It has about 2 million visitors per month in the Internet
If these stocks were Stocks…
Usage per Month
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
A 98 A 99 A 00 A 01 A 02 A 03 A 04 A 05 A 06
Years (August)
Hit
s (m
illio
ns)
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
3.5
Use
r se
ssio
ns
(mil
lion
s)
January 2006:23 million hits
3 million visitors
And the Winner Is…And the Winner Is…
Why Fish?Why Fish?
Why Fish?
Who?Who?
FishBase Web Users
Individuals
Private sector
Universities
Governments
NGOs
Museums
Int. Research Centres
Based on 2408 entries in the FishBase Guestbook, September 2005
Where?Where?
FishBase Users by Continent
North America
Europe
Asia
South America
Africa
Australia
Oceania
Based on 2408 entries in the FishBase Guestbook , September 2005
What?What?
Common names
Scientific names
Direct linksSpecies summaries
Photos
Specialist topics
Based on 2.5 million page views by directory on Kiel server in September 2005
FishBase Usage by Topic
Where is the Science? Invasive Species
Name Species Length (cm)
Doubling time (years)
Score (n)
Established already?
Mozambiquetilapia
Oreochromis mossambicus
39 1.4 – 4.4 83 Guppy Poecilia
reticulata3.5 0.5 44
Green swordtail
Xiphophorus hellerii
14 < 1 23 Redbreasttilapia
Tilapia rendalli 45 1.4 – 4.4 23 Redbelly tilapia
Tilapia zillii 40 1.4 – 4.4 19 Wami tilapia Oreochromis
hornorum24 1.4 – 4.4 17 -
Aquarium Fishes which may Establish themselves in Hawaii (6 of 111)
Where is the Science?
Trends in Global Catches (Froese and Pauly 2003)
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
1951 1956 1961 1966 1971 1976 1981 1986 1991 1996
Years
Pe
rce
nt
of
Wo
rld
Fis
he
rie
s
26%5.1 years
38%
4.3 years
31%5.0 years
22%4.1 years
Undeveloped
Developing
Fully exploited
Overfished
Collapsed
What Can You Do?What Can You Do?
Stop Overfishing Let them Spawn Don’t Eat Baby Fish Get the FisherMin ruler
The David Suzuki Foundation is keen to develop `localized´ versions
Greetings from the FishBase Greetings from the FishBase TeamTeam
Thanks to ourThanks to our Partners and Sponsors Partners and Sponsors