FISHGLOB: A collaborative infrastructure to bridge the gap between scientific monitoring and marine biodiversity conservation

Abstract

Large-scale biodiversity assessments and conservation applications require integrated and up-to-date datasets across regions. In the oceans, monitoring is fragmented, which affects knowledge exchange and usage. Among existing monitoring programs, scientific bottom-trawl surveys (SBTS) are long-term, rich, and well-maintained data sources at the scale of each sampled region, but these data are under-utilized in biodiversity applications, especially across regions. This is hampered by the lack of an international community and database maintained through time. To address this, we created FISHGLOB, an infrastructure gathering SBTS and experts. In 5 years, we developed an integrated database of SBTS and a consortium gathering more than 100 experts and users. Here, we are sharing the project history, achievements, challenges, and outlooks. In particular, we reflect on the infrastructure-building social and technical processes which will guide the development of similar infrastructures. The FISHGLOB project takes ocean monitoring one step forward in working as a unified community across disciplines and regions of the world.