Substantial amounts of data collected by government and donor-funded marine scientists around the world are not routinely archived in data centres. Even if published, the original data are irretrievably lost to studies of long-term (environmental) change (SCOR/IODE 2008) over time. This data and information management plan has been developed by the Agulhas and Somali Current Large Marine Ecosystems (ASCLME) Project National Data and Information Coordinators together with the Project Coordination Unit. The purpose of the plan is to ensure that data collected during the duration of the ASCLME project, and thereafter, are not only tracked and monitored to the stage of publication, but that data sets are also archived in national data centres for the ongoing benefit of countries, and to build country ownership of the TDA/SAP process. International best practices and standards for data management will be followed in all cases (eg. JCOMM 2008) as specified in Appendix VI. Together with capacity building interventions, this approach aims to support the goal of sustainable national data archives that countries can use in the support of ecosystem monitoring and management in the long term.

This is a working document which will continue to evolve with the project, while always following the principles for data management as agreed by participating countries.

The Excel spreadsheed called ASCLME Cruises DataListAnalysisProgress v12.xls is a detailed spreadsheet of metadata for each dataset collected on each cruise. This is a monitoring spreadsheet set up to allow multiple users to track processing of data on an ongoing basis.

Although many environmental components were sampled and processed at sea (and are available on request in their processed, quality-controlled state), it is expected that other samples will be analysed over many years to come (due to costly or time-consuming analysis).

Data streams from moorings, drifters and Argo floats are available in near real-time from dedicated websites.

A complete portal for access to data and reports is available here.

Template for the ASCLME MEDA (Marine Ecosystem Diagnostic Analysis) document.

Principles and guidelines for ASCLME data and information management.

Participating countries in the ASCLME Project, and their designated representatives, have the mandate to develop this document on principles and guidelines for ASCLME data and information management so that it facilitates the effective collection, use and dissemination of information in support of TDA/SAP development in the short term and the ecosystem approach in the long term.

The purpose of this document is to provide a reference for coastal and marine-related institutions and projects in the Western Indian Ocean region.

Content has been included as provided by regional projects or institutions active in more than one country in the Western Indian Ocean. The body of the text describes the activities of 25 projects, but a longer list may be found in Appendix I. Twelve chapters are presented on a thematic or geographic basis, to allow interested projects and parties to interact and coordinate activities around their particular areas of interest. The order of projects is in the order of information received; they are not listed alphabetically or reformatting would have been required after every addition. Sections for which
information is pending, or sections that are not applicable have been left blank, also to avoid formatting problems. Much of the text has been extracted from other documents, websites and reports, and no claims are made to originality.

This reference document should be used as a guide only. Some information has been based on online sources or project documents that may be outdated. For the most up-to-date, verified and accurate information about any project, please contact them directly.

We hope to improve this draft, and so further comments or contributions of any kind are welcome.

Through a collaboration with ODINAFRICA, the content from this document will be uploaded into an online, searchable database during the course of 2011.