WIOMSA 10th Scientific Symposium 2017

AfReMaS & AfrOBIS: what can these systems do for scientists and how can scientists contribute? This special session at the WIOMSA conference was convened by the EurOBIS Data Management Team, in collaboration with KMFRI, and aimed to go more in-depth on AfReMaS and AfrOBIS and their relationship with more global initiatives such as the international Ocean Biodiversity Information System (OBIS), the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF), the World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS) and LifeWatch. As an inventory of existing datasets for the West Indian Ocean is ongoing under the IOC-umbrella, - and these could possibly contribute to the above mentioned initiatives, the exploration of collaboration opportunities is high on the priority list. Next to the general framework, the workshop also wanted to actively engage the African scientific community in how to (1) use both systems in their day-to-day work and (2) contribute to one or both systems.