11 April 2008: The International Conference on Marine Data and Information Systems took place in Athens, Greece between 31 March and 3 April 2008. 
The Conference counted not less than 205 registered participants from 40 countries.[ more ]
The host of the Conference, Dr Efstathios Balopoulos, said the following in his c;losing words: "Turning to the actual Conference itself, there was broad agreement that effective management of the marine environment in support of national and regional sustainable development needs to be based upon the availability of long term and high quality multidisciplinary data.
It must be acknowledged that the Oral and Poster presentations during this meeting were of consistently high standard and demonstrated both the depth of knowledge and advancement in the field of data management that has been acquired, whilst emphasizing the considerable gaps that exist. The progress made within individual scientific and technological issues related to data management is significant.
The above efforts, whilst significant, must be further strengthened by various measures and capacity building action to improve networking and communication nationally, regionally and globally. Thus further actions on data and information management, to my view, should include:
- The development of distributed data management systems, for dissemination of delayed mode and near-real time data, using Internet capabilities and new technologies. Such an approach is considered as the most appropriate for the most effective management of data and information.
- Regular updating of existing data bases, including the collection, quality control, archival and dissemination of additional data types (e.g., biogeochemical data, long time series, etc.). This must be accompanied by an improvement in data quality and data products. It is stressed that the quality of certain data products (e.g., estimates of the mean, decadal, seasonal, monthly statistics at basin, regional and shelf scales), requires the availability of large volumes of data of high quality and thus of increased data collection through various platforms.
- Improvement and publishing of the quality control standards and protocols, (especially for biochemical and products).
- Coordinated planning and execution of capacity building activities and the establishment of common data management practices which will enable the achievement of a better balance in data management capabilities and will facilitate equitable participation in scientific and monitoring exercises.
- Enhancement of the public awareness on the oceanographic and marine data heritage.
The Reports presented by the chairpersons of the various sessions will be further elaborated by the scientific Committee of the Conference to formulate the final conclusions and recommendations that came out from this Conference. These along with the reports of the Sessions chairpersons will be included in the official proceedings of the Conference which will be probably published by the European Commission. Furthermore, as it has been announced ten to twenty manuscripts which will be selected by the Conference Scientific Committee will be published in a special issue of an international journal.
At the closure of this Conference I feel the need to thank all those who worked for the realization of this Conference. Particular thanks are due to the staff of the HCMR for the great efforts they have placed for this event. Of course many thanks are also due to you for participating in this Conference."
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Created on: Friday, 11 April 2008 16:43
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Last Updated on: Monday, 01 July 2013 12:20
