CREDITS


Writing the ‘ACKNOWLEDGMENTS’ for a collaborative project as large as FishBase is a serious matter, and with both of us having mother tongues other than English, we decided to check dictionaries. The Compact Edition of the Oxford Dictionary of 1971 gave six definitions, of which we present the first and the last:

  • the act of acknowledging, confessing, admitting or owing; confession, avowal;

  • the sensible sign, whereby anything is acknowledged; something given or done in return for a favor or message, or a formal communication that we have received it.

Here, we began to vacillate. Just to be sure, we consulted the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, which is more recent (1993). The nuances matched, and one definition was added:

A legitimate child
  • public recognition by a man of an illegitimate child of his own.

We decided not to acknowledge anything, but to give CREDIT, instead, to all those who have helped us conceive FishBase, a very legitimate child.

Publications

Wherever possible, we have cited the publications of colleagues who have contributed to FishBase or have in one way or another influenced the design of FishBase. These citations are still somewhat biased towards FishBase Team members, which is understandable, since we are foremost influenced by our own ideas and concepts, as reflected in our publications. However, we expect this bias to become less apparent in the citation count as more and more colleagues actively contribute to FishBase, author their own chapters and then cite their own publications, for the same reasons.

First, we thank the European Commission (EC) for supporting the project with five subsequent grants (BL946/89/29, BL946/90, B7-5040/92/14, B7-5040/94-12/8/ENV/1994/64, and 7.ACP.RPR.545), which have enabled the creation and further development of FishBase.

AUPELF/ACCT

The Association des Université Partiellement et Entièrement de Langue Française (AUPELF) supported M.L.D. Palomares during the first two years of her association with the FishBase Project. The Agence de Cooperation Culturelle et Technique (ACCT), Paris, funded in 1991/1992 the acquisition of a computer and of French language literature and its entry into FishBase, the travel of M.L.D. Palomares to West Africa, and the visit to the project in Manila of two consultants, J. Moreau from Toulouse and P. Reyes-Marchant from Clérmont-Ferrand.

NOAA

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency (NOAA) supported, from September 1993 to August 1994, through the Climate and Eastern Ocean Systems (CEOS) Project and J. Mendo, the entry of data from upwelling systems, especially that of Peru.

Substantial data

Substantial amounts of data came from I. Achenbach, R. Bauchot, D. Bengen, G. Bianchi, A. Cabanban, K. Carpenter, B. Costa-Pierce, P. Dalzell, W.N. Eschmeyer, W. Fischer, M.M. Fouda, D.E. Harper, G.V. Hermosa, Jr., E.D. Houde, B. Groombridge, J. Ingles, G. Kelly, J.D. McPhail, A. Miyasaka, A.K.M. Mohsin, B. Mundy, R.A. Myers, H. Ortegas, C. Papasissi, M. Prein, J.E. Randall, E. Reyes, K.-T. Shao, U. Sienknecht, M.K. Smith, R.V. Thurston, W. Villwock, R.L. Welcomme and M.N. Yamamoto.

Reviews

FishBase tables were reviewed and improved by D. Bartley, G. Bianchi, K. Carpenter, B.A. Costa-Pierce, A.E. Eknath, W. Fischer, A. Jarre-Teichmann, P. Kailola, R.H. Lowe-McConnell, J. McGlade, R.S.V. Pullin, J. Ruesink, K. Ruddle, U. Sienknecht, D. Skibinski and W. Villwock.

Verifying

The following colleagues helped us verify different parts of information in FishBase: T. Abe, G. Bianchi, R.W. Blake, E.B. Böhlke, W.E. Burgess, A. Cabanban, K. Carpenter, M.S. Christensen, V. Christensen, U. Focken, Ch. Frieß, A.J. Geffen, A.C. Gill, M.F. Gomon, D. Hoese, B. Hutchins, A. Jarre-Teichmann, B. Jones, P.J. Kailola, L. Koli, M. Kottelat, D.L. Lajus, P. Last, H. Lehtonen, D. Levi, Y. Machida, T. Matsusato, K. Matsuura, J. Moreau, I. Nakamura, G. Otello, H. Oxenford, C. Papasissi, T. Paulus, J. Paxton, R. Pyle, J.E. Randall, O. Rechlin, C. Renaud, R. Robles, K. Sasaki, B. Séret, U. Sienknecht, D.G. Smith, V.G. Springer, G. Teugels, L. Trott, W. Villwock, J.T. Williams, R. Winterbottom, D.J. Woodland, W. Weber, G. Yearsley and P.N. Yershov.

Collaboration

Collaborating institutions: American Fisheries Society (AFS), USA; Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research (AWI), Germany; CARICOM Fisheries Resources and Management Program (CFRAMP), Belize; California Academy of Sciences (CAS), USA; Department of Land and Natural Resources, Division of Aquatic Resources (DLNR-DAR), State of Hawaii, USA; Department of Biology, Patras University, Greece; Department of Fisheries, Malawi; Ecole Nationale Supérieure Agronomique de Toulouse (ENSAT), France; Programa de Ecología, Pesquerías y Oceanografía del Golfo de México (EPOMEX), Mexico; Expert Center for Taxonomic Identification (ETI), The Netherlands; Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), Italy; Institute of Aquatic Biology (IAB), Ghana; Institut für Meereskunde (IfM), Kiel, Germany; International Game Fish Association (IGFA), USA; Instituto de Investigaçao Pesqueira (IIP), Moçambique; Institute of Marine Biology and Oceanography (IMBO), Sierra Leone; Institute of Zoology, Academia Sinica (IZAS), Taiwan; International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES), Denmark; Ministry of Agriculture, Land and Marine Resources, Fisheries Division (MALMRFD), Trinidad and Tobago; Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle (MNHN), France; Musée Royal de l’Afrique Centrale (MRAC), Belgium; Marine Resources Assessment Group (MRAG), UK; Fridtjof Nansen Project, Institute of Marine Research (NAN-IMR), Norway; Swedish Museum of Natural History (NRM), Stockholm, Sweden; Institut Français de Recherche Scientifique pour le Développement en Coopération (ORSTOM), France; Provincial Fisheries Branch, British Columbia, and Fisheries Centre, University of British Columbia (UBC), Vancouver, Canada; South Pacific Commission (SPC), Noumea; Université Blaise Pascal Clérmont-Ferrand, Institut des Sciences Biologiques, Hydrobiologie des Eaux Douces (UBPCF), France; Universidad Nacional Agraria La Molina, (UNALM) Peru; University of the Philippines, Marine Science Institute (UP-MSI); World Conservation Monitoring Center (WCMC), UK; World Conservation Union (IUCN), Geneva; and Zoologisches Institut und Museum Hamburg (ZIM), Germany.

The FishBase Team

Members of the FishBase Team at some point are or were: Belen Acosta, Eli Agbayani, Liza Agustin, Henry Angeles, Rachel Atanacio, Crispina Binohlan, Portia Bonilla, Roberto Cada, Emily Capuli, Christine Casal, Grace Coronado, Maria Teresa Cruz, Anne Johanne Dalsgaard, John Falcon, Rainer Froese, Tom Froese, Cristina Garilao, Meynard G. Gilhang, Emmanuel Kaunda, Sari Kuosmanen-Postila, Alice Laborte, Susan Luna, Jaime Mendo, Mamaa Entsua-Mensah, Grace T. Pablico, Maria Lourdes D. Palomares, Analyn Palomares, Daniel Pauly, Ilya Pauly, Rodolfo B. Reyes, Jr., Magnus Olsson-Ringby, Ma. Josephine France Rius, Pascualita Sa-a, Drina Sta. Iglesia, Dominador Tioseco, Armi Torres, Jan Michael Vakily and Shen-Chih Wang.

Rainer Froese and Daniel Pauly