IndOBIS

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Context:

The Centre for Marine Living Resources and Ecology (CMLRE) conducted a national-level workshop on the Indian Ocean Biodiversity Information System (IndOBIS) on September 03, 2024, at its Kochi campus.

Details

Ocean Biodiversity Information System (OBIS)

OBIS emanated from the Census of Marine Life (2000-2010) and was adopted as a project under the InternationalOcean Commission's (IOC)-UNESCO's  International Oceanographic Data and Information) program in 2009.

Objectives:

• It provides detailed information on species distributionacross the world's oceans, including data on their occurrence, habitats, and environmental parameters.
• It offers tools and services that allow users to search, visualize, and download biodiversity data.

Regional nodes

• OBIS is supported by a network of nearly 30 regional nodescontributing data while ensuring the data's quality and accessibility.
• It is now an integral component of the International Oceanographic Data and Information Exchange (IODE) of the IOC.

Indian Ocean Biodiversity Information System (IndOBIS)

• IndOBIS is the regional OBIS node for the Indian Ocean, hosted by the Centre for Marine Living Resources and Ecology (CMLRE), Kochi.
• IndOBIS has been collecting data of taxonomically resolved marine speciesoccurrence records from the Indian Ocean and contributing to the OBIS, as one of the 30 regional nodes of the Ocean Biodiversity Information System OBIS.

IndOBIS workshop

• CMLRE conducted a national-level workshop on the IndOBIS recently.
• The workshop brought together scientists and researchers from various institutionsacross the country and helped raise awareness about marine biodiversity data documentation and publishing among the participants.

Objective and Significance

• The IndOBIS workshop was a valuable platform for training and capacity buildingin data acquisition, analysis, and management, especially for marine biodiversity in the Indian Ocean.
• As the data accepted to IndOBIS is scientifically quality-controlled and geotagged, it can be used in innovative studies such as:
• Tracking species distribution.
• Identifying biodiversity hotspots.
• Accessing climate change impacts.
  • • It also directly aligns with the SDG-14: life below water and impacts the success of several more SDGs.
    • One of the components is deep sea biodiversityexploration and conservation of India’s Deep Ocean Mission, which is vital to the mission's overall success.

Ocean Eyes App

• Aligned with the objective of IndOBIS, CMLRE has also developed a mobile application called Ocean Eyes for data collection, sharing, and analysis in marine biodiversity monitoring and research.
• Users can record sightings of marine species, log environmental conditions, and upload geotagged photos directly through mobile.
• Real-time reportingof observations to IndOBIS is also possible through Ocean Eyes.

About CMLRE

• CMLRE is a premier research institution under the Ministry of Earth Sciences.
• Established in 1998, it is dedicated to studying and sustainably managing marine living resources in India.
• The institution is crucial in advancing marine science, conducting cutting-edge research, and supporting policy development to protect and conserve India’s marine ecosystems.
• CMLRE maintains voucher (preserved) specimens of deep-sea biodiversity as part of the IndOBIS objectives.

Source

https://indobis.in/

https://obis.org/about/

https://pib.gov.in/PressReleaseIframePage.aspx?PRID=2051459