PACIFIC ISLANDS REGIONAL GROUP REPORT
To IAMSLIC Meeting – 2004
By Ganeshan Rao
INTRODUCTION
‘Pacific Islands Regional Group': the primary clients receiving assistance are the PacificIsland countries and the regional institutions. It has been mainly functional is association with a pre-existing structure of Pacific Islands Marine Resources Information System (PIMRIS) with its Coordination Unit at The University of the South Pacific (USP) and also acted as the contact point through the Regional Group’s representative to facilitate IAMSLIC matters in the region. The current Group Rep on IAMSLIC Board is Ganeshan Rao (he has left PIMRIS job in January 2004) but continues to be a member of IAMSLIC.
BACKGROUND
In the recent past years, clarifications were sought as to the definition of the Group Vs PIMRIS programme. When PIMRIS got established in early 90’s it was the only formal marine/aquatic sciences information networking setup to serve the Pacific islands region. At that stage IAMSLIC was in the process of establishing regional groups. Hence, for practical purposes it was logical at that time to take PIMRIS structure on board as the Pacific Islands Regional Group as proposed by the then PIMRIS Coordinator/IAMSLIC Member (Ganeshan Rao). It has been evident that this arrangement has been primarily focused around PIMRIS activities and as a result it seems the wider involvement of IAMSLIC members from the Pacific Region within this Group need to be addressed.
PIMRIS STEERING COMMITTEE MEETING (also covered IAMSLIC regional group matters)
This meeting was held on 11-12 November 2003 IN SuvaFiji. The workplan to support the region is included below. The meeting recommended that:
- the name be changed from ‘Pacific Islands Regional Group’ to ‘IAMSLIC – Pacific Regional Group’. This will enable the inclusion wider Pacific IAMSLIC members such as from Australia and NZ in addition to the PIMRIS partners. This group can function similar to other regional groups within IAMSLIC and work closely with PIMRIS.
- PIMRIS encourage Fisheries Department Libraries to join IAMSLIC or utilise the twinning facility of IAMSLIC to increase members from the region.
The meeting made various recommendations to facilitate:
- country assistance in marine information management in practice and staff training;
- collection development and information sharing;
- Greater communication between PIMRIS partners and countries;
- Utilize information technology to improve information dissemination including web-access, database work, transferring information in experts into the Global Directory of Marine Scientists on the website of Unesco’s Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission etc (as indicated in the work plan);
- Expansion of networking amongst marine information stakeholder regionally and internationally.
SPECIAL REGIONAL MEETING OF THE GROUP IN HOBART
It is planned that all the IAMSLIC members from Pacific region (some of which are also involved in PIMRIS) will meet on Sunday 5th September in Hobart and provide a further update report to the Executive Board. The general feeling that is evolving includes:
- PIMRIS and the Regional Group should be working closely together.
- In practice, it seems likely that there will often be overlap but activities can be such that it is beneficial to both.
- Aregional representative should be selectedby the regional members without regard for PIMRIS status (i.e.member orcoordinator).
- Many of the issues discussed at the PIMRIS Steering Committee meeting would be useful agenda items for the Group’s meeting.
- A function/operational system be setup involving the current IAMSLIC members from the Pacific Region but cooperatively work with PIMRIS by requesting to be an observer during its Steering Committee Meetings.
- It is acknowledged that during healthy budgetary days PIMRIS had sponsored fisheries librarians from Pacific island countries to become members of IAMSLIC but some have lapsed in recent years. This could be helped through the countries’ own fees or twinning or other means.
Agenda (tentative)
- Welcome by Group Rep.
- Election of Chair & Secretary for this meeting.
- Regional group definition/re-definition.
- Review of the various issues rose during the last PIMRIS Steering Committee meeting.
- GEMIM and the Pacific.
- UNESCO survey of regionalLICs in preparation for ODIN.
- Email list for the Group.
HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE PIMRISSTEERING COMMITTEE MEETING DISCUSSIONS
Regional Cooperation
The participation of regional organizations: Secretariat of Pacific Community (SPC), South Pacific Applied Geosciences Commission (SOPAC), Forum Fisheries Agency (FFA), South Pacific Regional Environmental Programme (SPREP), and University of the South Pacific (USP), in marine information dissemination and sharing has benefited the region. Each of the cooperating partners continues to produce their respective information dissemination products, which are distributed free of charge within the network to help Pacific Island Countries and Territories (PICT).
Highlights of activities in the countries
PNG
Within the National Fisheries Authority (NFA), a library has been established at the headquarters in Port Moresby and one at the National Fisheries College (NFC) in Kavieng, New IrelandProvince. PIMRIS provided technical assistance in marine information management to NFA and NFC and trained the staff.
FIJI
The Fisheries Department library was established with very limited resources in 1978 and serviced by one staff. The Department since then upgraded its library through the various training at USP. The Fisheries Library received books from various donors agency. Recent activities within the Fisheries Library were:
- The construction of new library shelves to meet the modern standards
- Re-organization of the library catalogue to enable users via computer.
- Current awareness service offered to the users to do their own selection.
SAMOA
The Fisheries Library had 2 types of collections i.e. general and Samoa. A total of 2,965 items have been recorded. The library has WINISIS database software and DBTextworks received via the environment information network. Library budget is supported from the Public Education and Awareness category. During the past 2 years, the main activities were dissemination of information, village advisory and information service, bio-diversity and environment awareness open days, compilation of marine education materials for schools and media releases.
SOLOMON ISLANDS
The Fisheries Department had just recuperated from the local crisis. It has a large office space but needs renovation, and materials for shelves, cabinets, air conditions, fans and furniture. The collection includes books, periodicals/journals, encyclopedia, and monthly articles from various organizations and resourceful materials received. The items have been sorted by general subject and stored in the intended room for library.FFA staff offered to pursue discussions to help Solomon Islands Fisheries.
TUVALU
The Fisheries library a very limited budget and is only able to meet the library assistant’s salary. The problem of finding a suitable space for the keeping of the books and others sources of information still exists. Staff attachment and training was provided by PIMRIS. Technical assistance is needed in basic tasks including sorting out and shelving books and database work.
TONGA
The building housing the library was destroyed in a fire in Sep 2001. Approximately 90% of the books were saved and are kept in a temporary room. The Ministry’s library started with WIN ISIS as the first software used for cataloguing records. In 2002, Ministry of Fisheries became a member of Pacific Environmental Information Network (PEIN) – a task carried out by SPREP. One new computer with a printer were donated to the Ministry‘s library. Also another software DBT Text is already installed into the computer.
FFA
The FFA library had been without a librarian for the past 3 years. During this period almost all standard library services, like acquisitions, circulation and borrowing ceased to exist or barely function.The FFA library collection includes approximately 8900 books and reports and 560 periodicals. These estimates however are based on catalogue data from year 2000 and before. Acquisitions made after 2000 have not been entered into the existing library catalogue system. Rarely, if ever, do FFA members, aid donors or consultants draw upon the resources of the FFA library. In light of this fact, the FFA executive has chosen to focus its scarce resources on information services of benefit to its clients.There are two positions in the FFA Library: Information Officer and Assistant Librarian. Maintenance and development of the FFA Report Series is underway with the vision of bringing all existing FFA Reports online, inclusive of all search facilities one would expect from a web based index searching. This approach is designed to service the information needs of FFA clients.
News, information on the Agency, upcoming events and profiles of divisions and activities of FFA member has moved from a paper based New Digest to an online medium freely available to all at
SOPAC
Five databases are maintained in the Library, one each for aerial photographs, journals, maps/charts, monographs/reports/reprints etc., and slides, with regular current awareness lists or subject bibliographies generated from each database for in-house circulation, and on request by other users. One of these databases is on Microsoft Access ( the other four are on WINISIS
A list of current SOPAC reports and SOPAC Joint Contributions ( is published periodically inSOPAC News. Note, however, that the Secretariat does not have extra copies of SOPAC Joint Contributions for distribution. Before the SOPAC Session each year, a complete listing of published and unpublished SOPAC reports, SOPAC maps/charts, and SOPAC Joint Contributions is produced with author, subject and geographic indexes. The Virtual Library contains the list of SOPAC produced reports that can be downloaded from
Staff from the Vanuatu Department of Geology Mines and Water Resources Library was attached to SOPAC library for a week to obtain basic skills required to maintain the library. Future activities: SOPAC is committed to continue association with PEIN, PIMRIS and IAMSLIC networks, including other regional, international bodies and institutions to facilitate networking and information exchange; continue library and bibliographic services for member countries, Secretariat staff, researchers and students; and country assistance.
SPC
The Fisheries Information services improve the information processing and dissemination capacities of its Marine Resources Division of SPC. The Information Section co-ordinates the provision of information, on a regular or on-demand basis, to fisheries experts, development officers, extension agents, planners, management personnel and other individuals involved in fisheries development and management on a national, regional or international level. Many of these people worked in remote areas where communications were difficult, thereby limiting their access to technical fisheries advice and information.
It publishes relevant outputs where necessary on general language editing, graphics, and printing whilst the Fisheries Information Section concentrates on fisheries-specific aspects), producing regional fisheries information products that either cover cross-sectional issues or issues that are not covered by other sections, and assisting Pacific Community members to develop their own information services.
Activities planned for the future are included in the workplan below
Web site - An Internet website( also holds documents are posted on this site in “PDF”, “HTML” and "MS Word".
The Library activities include: research on subscription and free databases on all the topics and subject areas of the SPC projects and programmes; value-added services such as the creation of digital libraries on CD, create Cataloguing-In-Publication, annotated bibliographies, and can offer instruction on library use, maintenance, cataloguing, and other technical services. It will pursue to have its literature indexed in ASFA. The library has made an assessment of the current SPC library collection and has identified a need for updating the SPC collection with current and French language publications in the areas of coral reef ecology, women in fisheries, fishing laws and regulations of PICTs, and sustainable fisheries.
PIMRIS COORDINATION UNIT - USP
The major activities in the past two years: running the Resource Centre/Library and Audio-Visual Collection; publishing work for PIMRIS; and providing a regional information service in co-operation with other PIMRIS member libraries as well as Collection Development. Assistance to PICT: PNG, Fiji & Samoa; development of PIMRIS webpage; and provision of material circulation service. Specific information literacy sessions were coordinated and/or conducted by PIMRIS staff.
PACIFIC ISLANDS OCEAN FORUM
The Pacific Islands Regional Ocean Forum was convened in Fiji from February 02–06, 2004 at the University of the South Pacific. The Pacific Islands Regional Ocean Forum responds to instructions from the Pacific Islands Forum Leaders, following their endorsement of the Pacific Islands Regional Ocean Policy in August 2002 in Suva, Fiji. It is also embodied in the Pacific Islands Regional Submission to the World Summit on Sustainable Development.The primary objective of the Pacific Islands Regional Ocean Forum was to produce an Integrated Framework for Action of Ocean Initiatives of high priority for the Pacific Islands Region.
WORKPLAN FOR 2004-2005
- Document Delivery
Finalise the Journal holdings list of subscribed titles (with formatting and content editing) coordinated by the PIMRIS Coordination Unit. (ALL PARTNERS)
- Regional Database Development and Management
- Maintain the PIMRIS Regional Database. Records from regional partners can be converted into the current central WINISIS System. (USP)
- Ad-hoc database working group comprising of SPC, FFA, USP, SOPAC and SPREP library representatives discussions to address technical issues as they arise and uniform package for PICT. (ALL PARTNERS)
3.Information Collection and Dissemination
3.1Identify and collect marine resources documents produced in the region for deposit at USP Library. Encourage marine resource workers to submit reports (USP)
3.2Newsletters
SPC Fisheries NewsletterQuarterly
(French and English)
FFA News DigestBi-monthly
PIMRIS NewsletterBiannually/Quarterly
SOPAC NewsletterQuarterly
SPREP Newsletter(s)Quarterly
Information bulletin (French & English) (SPC):
Beche-de-mer Information Bulletin
Pearl Oyster Information Bulletin Trochus Information Bulletin Traditional Marine Resources
Management and Knowledge Information Bulletin
Fisheries Education and Training Information Bulletin
FAD Information Bulletin
Live Reef Fish Bulletin (including fish spawning aggregation);
Women in Fisheries
4.Current Awareness Services:
Periodicals table of contentsmonthly
(ALL Partners)
New acquisitions lists (SPC,SPREP,FFA)Quarterly
SPC Fisheries Address Book (web/print)(SPC)Annual
Poster Project (SPC) – ongoing
Educational and awareness materialas needed
Information Packages (USP, FFA)As needed
SOPAC Bibliography (SOPAC)
Updating Depository Libraries mailing list.
(SPC + others as appropriate)
5Information Requests – All Partners
Continue bibliographic searches; literature searches on Aquatic Sciences and Fisheries Abstracts (ASFA) (USP)
Reference Services; Document delivery – (ALL PARTNERS)
Provide Bibliographic Instruction/Information Literacy (USP).
Continue links with ASFA (USP)on-going
6.Assistance to National Centres
Provide assistance with collection development (All Partners)
Respond to request for assistance to enhance information-handling capabilities. Continue to advise the nationalcentres which have received such assistance. Work out strategies to fulfill requests from PICT. (All Partners)
National Fisheries/Marine Resources departments attempt to provide resources to sustain the work done in-country under PIMRIS.
7.Update mailing lists. (All Partners)
8.PIMRIS Coordination Unit (USP) to PIMRIS Steering Committee Meeting Procedure Manual to be part of PIMRIS C Unit’s operational Manual.
9.Future Direction:
USP – PIMRIS Coordination Unit is to coordinate a formal statement of cooperation.
ALL PARTNERS:Continue exploring and usage of modern technological means of communication such as Internet (e-mail, telnet) facilities for information sharing.
- Compilation of websites (SPC, SOPAC, USP).
- Expand PIMRIS C.Unit website to establish links to various sources of marine information.
- Pac Is info to be entered in GLODIR (Global directory established by Unesco-IOC) (USP, SPC).
ALL PARTNERS: Develop links with other libraries & information centres, information networks; explore on possible international connections
ALL PARTNERS: Communicate/inform each other on assistance provided to PICT.
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