Abstract
India has got vast water and fish germplasm resources. There has been no effort to prepare georeferenced,
easily updated, comprehensive and accessible information system of all the aquatic and fishery resources of the country on a spatial scale With the advent
of Internet, it is now possible to link people and information together like never before. The challenge now is to apply this technology to fully utilise the wealth
of important biological information that currently exists in hundreds of different government agency databases, universities, museums and other institution
throughout the country. As many developed countries have developed very comprehensive information system on aquatic bodies for their country, through
Internet it is possible to have an idea about the methodology required for developing such information system. Also information generated by some
organisations on aquatic resources of India is available on Internet facilitating determining the source of data for arranging it on spatial scale.
The information available on Internet can be utilised for collecting information on aquatic resources of India, getting methodology of data compilation and
mapping procedures and for applying the available databases for specific fishery resource management issues.
Introduction
India has got vast water and fish germplasm resources. There has been no effort to prepare georeferenced, easily updated, comprehensive and accessible
information system of all the aquatic and fishery resources of the country on a spatial scale. Besides published papers, most of the information on aquatic
resources and fauna of India is scattered, available with a number of organisations and in grey literature in the form of unpublished reports, Ph.D. thesis as
well as proceedings of the symposium. With the advent of Internet, it is now possible to link people and information together like never before.
The challenge now is to apply this technology to fully utilise the wealth of important biological information that currently exists in hundreds of different
government agency databases, universities, museums and other institution throughout the country. When all these data are mapped it will be possible to
develop spatial map having information about fish distribution and to develop hypothesis of the relation between the fish and the water bodies. This type
of spatial analysis is possible with the use of maps created by geographical information system (GIS). This information will provide managers and policy
makers with the tools to evaluate the relative importance of various aquatic resources and to prioritised areas that need to be conserved as well as implement
development plans on a eco-friendly sustainable manner. Therefore there is an urgent need to develop a system having georeferenced database of fish
and fish habitat, which covers all aquatic bodies.
As many developed countries have developed very comprehensive information system on aquatic bodies for their country, through Internet it is
possible to have an idea about the methodology required for developing such information system. Also information generated by some organisations
on aquatic resources of India is available on Internet facilitating determining the source of data for arranging it on spatial scale. The National Bureau of
Fish Genetic Resources, Lucknow is playing a leading role to digitise the scattered data on fishes and arranging it on an aquatic spatial map. For
accessing the information on the existing databases in other country and to understand the methodology used by other countries, NBFGR, Lucknow is
utilising the Internet. Some of the important web sites used by NBFGR, for this purpose can be broadly divided into
- Web sites having information on aquatic resources of India.
- Web site on methodology of data compilation and mapping procedures.
- Web sites highlighting application of databases for specific fishery resource management issues.