/ EUROPEAN COMMISSION
DIRECTORATE-GENERAL FOR MARITIME AFFAIRS AND FISHERIES
INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS AND MARKETS
Integrated Fisheries Data Management

Brussels,

D(2014),

FRONT – Fleet Register On the Net

Subject:A new web service on FRONT data

1.Introduction

This document is a proposal describingthe web service(WS) that would be available to MS in May 2014 to query the existing EU Fleet Register (FRONT).

Only one simple WS is proposed due to the following reasons:

  • The FRONT information system is in a maintenance mode. No more major developments is foreseen and maintenance operations requiring IT resources should be limited to a minimum to avoid impacts on the planning and the development of the on-going projects;
  • Additional and more elaborated web services on fleet data should be provided in the context of the new FLEET project. As MS and the DG MARE hierarchy have decided that the project shouldn't be a priority in the 2014 plan, this WS is proposed as an alternative to meet the business needs of MS;

The below proposal takes the input of Member States, given during the meeting on 23/01/2014 into account.

2.Web Service

2.1.General principle

The EU Fleet Register (current FRONT system) is used as data source to deliver vessel data. The fleet register contains the history (set of events) of all EU fishing vessels since the census date of each MS[1].

The web service will be used to retrieve information of the vessels presentin the EU fleet or exiting the fleet (DES, EXP, RET) at the date of the request. No historical data will be delivered.

Values of all provided parameters described hereunder are used to query the register. The response to the query is structured like a vessel declaration described in the annex I of the R.(EC) n°26/2004.

Information about multiple vessels can be delivered if the criteria used to filter data are not accurate enough.

2.2.The call

Possible parameters:

  • The CFR number;
  • The external marking;
  • The IRCS (radio call sign);

At least one parameter is mandatory.

2.3.The transformation process[2]

When receiving the request, a MARE process takes place to modify the input values of some parametersbefore querying the register. This is to maximize the efficiency of the search taking into account how vessel data is stored in the fleet register.

  • CFR: no modification;
  • External marking:

In some MS, external markings are formatted with "special" characters like dashes or blank spaces. If the input value of the web service is used as such to query the register and if the format is not respected, the service will return no data. To avoid such problem, the process will transform the input value and will use a "normalized" external marking to query the register.

The following steps are performed by the process:

  1. Remove special characters, i.e. only the characters in the ranges [0-9] and [A-Z][a-z] are kept;
  2. Convert to uppercase (if it is not enforced in the xsd);
  3. If external marking is for a Lithuanian (LTU) or a Slovenian (SVN) vessel, and if alpha characters precede numeric characters, the alpha/numeric order is inverted:
    Example: 123ABC => ABC123
  4. Remove any numeric characters preceding alpha characters:
    Example: 1ABC123 => ABC123
  5. Remove leading zeros:
    Example: 00123 => 123
  • IRCS:

Some radio call signs contain "special" characters like dashes, dots, slashes. If the input value of the web service is used as such to query the register and if the special characters are removed are put at the wrong place, the service will return no data. To avoid such problem, the process will transform the input value and will use a "normalized" IRCS to query the register.

The following steps are performed by the process:

  1. Remove special characters, i.e. only the characters in the ranges [0-9] and [A-Z][a-z] are kept;
  2. Convert to uppercase (if it is not enforced in the xsd);
  3. Remove numeric characters preceding alpha characters:

Example: 1ABC123 => ABC123

  1. Remove leading zeros:

Example: 00123 => 123

2.4.The query

Information is searched for EU vessels present in the EU fleet or exiting the fleet at service calldate (the system date).

Using the FRONT terminology, the query can be expressed as such:

  • The start date[3] of the vessel declaration is prior or equal to the system date;
  • The end date[4] of the vessel declaration is equal or after the system date;
  • All the modified input values (cfr pt 2.3) are combined (AND clauses) and mapped to fleet register data;

2.5.The response

The response message will be compliant to the FRONT.xsd in annex. It will contain a list of vessel declarations: more than one declaration could be returned if non-discriminative criteria are provided in the call.

3.Technical information

  • The exchange of FRONT data between MS and DG MARE will be based on FLUX messages.
  • The FRONT XSD is provided in the annex. The xsd is not UN/CEFACT compliant. It is a temporary solution that should be replaced by a new UN/CEFACT xsd outcome of the FLEET project. The following diagrams detail the query and response messages.

4.Document version and history

Version / Author / Date
1.0 / T. REMY / 10/01/2014
2.0 / T. REMY / 24/01/2014
2.1 / T.REMY / 29/01/2014

Thierry REMY

Unit D4

1

[1]Commission Regulation n°1799/2006 amending Regulation (EC) n°26/2004 on the Community fishing fleet register

[2] The same transformation process is applied on vessel data in snapshots or vessel updates before storing validated information in the EU fleet register

[3]The start date is the date of the event communicated by the MS in snapshots or vessel updates;

[4]The end date is a date computed by the FRONT system when a vessel declaration is saved in the EU fleet register:it is the

  • Date of the event for an exit from the fleet (DES, EXP, RET);
  • Default value '31/12/2100' for the last event in the history of a vessel still in the fleet;
  • Date of the next event minus one day if the new event to record is not the last one in the vessel history;