Tunis, 1 – 2 April 1993
Opening Session
The Seminar on the System of Information for the promotion of aquaculture in the Mediterranean region was held in Tunis the 1st and 2nd April 1993.
This Seminar was attended by representatives of the following Member countries: Albania, Algeria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Egypt, Lebanon, Libya, Malta, Morocco, Portugal, Tunisia and Turkey; as well as France, and Greece as Associated countries, to discuss in detail and adopt ad referendum to their respective Government, the submitted Project Document. Representatives of FAO and UNDP, and delegates from ICRAM (Italy) were also present. (vide attached list of participants).
Mr. Tritar, Tunisian National Coordinator welcomed all present and reminded that this seminar was the result of works and discussions held in December 1991 in Cairo.
The Regional Coordinator of MEDRAP II, Mr. Hassan Akrout welcomed all the participants of the Seminar. He highlighted the fact that the main objective of MEDRAP II was to prepare the sustainable development of aquaculture in the Mediterranean with the setting up of permanent structures relying on existing international institutions. He reminded the great support provided by UNDP, FAO and the Tunisian Government in the implementation of this Project.
Ms. C. Molinier, Resident Representative of UNDP in Tunisia reminded that the objective of the MEDRAP program was the transfer of knowledge and know how for the sustainable development of aquaculture. She underlined also the necessity to integrate this development in the general management of the environment. She also highlighted the permanent interest of UNDP to promote national projects for aquaculture development plans which is considered as a valuable contribution to the Mediterranean cooperation in the field.
Mr. Coppola introduced the outline and the methodology of the SIPAM system, stressing out the importance of a pragmatic approach to be adopted for the delivery of services. For this reason, the implementation of SIPAM will start initially with a restricted number of counties, in order to demonstrate the results to be achieved during one year.
Mr. Ledoux, MEDRAP consultant, presented in broad terms the SIPAM draft document submitted to the attention of the Seminar participants.
Parallely to the Seminar, a working group composed of representatives of the following countries selected to start up the SIPAM Project: Croatia, Cyprus, Egypt, France, Greece, Portugal, Tunisia and Turkey, was assigned the task of studying the technical aspects of the system. The Representative of Albania was also present.
The project document was reviewed and discussed in detail. The following amendments have been retained:
the SIPAM project will be guided by a Management Board, composed of representatives from each participating country and any donor;
the first phase is to be considered as a prototype one and its duration limited to one year, starting the 1st June 1993;
4 amendments are to be introduced in the SIPAM Document, respectively in page 10, under para. “Immediate Objective 1”, p. 12 under “Immediate Objective 2”, p. 14 under “Activity 3.1.1” and p. 15 as paragraph 5 of “Prerequisites”:
1. Based on the already developped conceptual design approved by the countries of the region, a system design will be made by the project staff with the participation of the users in order that their precise requirements can be met adequately. A design confirmation meeting will be held to verify that the user needs are met and if necessary introduce the change requests in the design. The programming of the modules of the confirmed design will be developped by the system programmes within an approved Data Base Management System (DBMS) shell. The modules developped will be walked-through (tested) to verify that they meet the design specifications as soon as they are available, at the end of which process a final system test will be conducted to ascertain the integrity of the system as a whole. When the developped prototype system is accepted as operational, it will be tested by those countries that may have the equipment and the capability to run the prototype on their system or in the Regional Centre. The initial data input to the system will be provided by those countries that have the data elements identified as those required for the regional system. The successfull implementation of the prototype system development will complete the phase 1 of the SIPAM Project.
The System Extension is the second phase of the project and will commence upon the completion of the prototyping and its acceptance. The description of the second phase is provided to give a complete picture of the project, but is will be subjected to a confirmation exercise at a meeting of the system users after the trial of the prototype by the uses. The objectives of phase 2 may be revised with the experience gained in testing the prototype system and will include the hardware and software requirements of the network nodes, which may effect the total funding of the second phase. This phase foresees the extension of the system to those users who may wish to participate in SIPAM.
This 3rd phase of the project will depend on the successfull implementation of the first two phases, and will require a meeting of the responsible national node managers to discuss the modalities of funding the SIPAM to meet the cost of services expected to incur. The total services cost will include the in kind contribution of the network nodes commensurate with the levels of input they provide to the regional system.
SIPAM, in consultation with FAO, will study the legal aspects of collating, copying and providing online any proprietary data to users, when required obtain waiver of copy right for printed documents, including CD ROMs, it intends to provide to requestees.
To these amendments mentioned above, a number of minor changes have been suggested and duly noted by the MEDRAP consultant. These will be reflected directly in the final version of the document.
RECOMMENDATIONS
During its first phase SIPAM will be part of the MEDRAP activities and be managed by the MEDRAP Coordinator. The MEDRAP member countries will be informed of SIPAM's progress during the MEDRAP Steering Committee sessions. However, only those countries participating in the activities of SIPAM will be represented in its Management Board.
The Newsletter will be issued in English only, as a carrier language for the Fisheries and Aquaculture sector. However, the SIPAM Data Manager will ask the national node managers to translate it into national languages as appropriate for a wider and more profitable distribution. If Financial resources are available, it will be issued in other languages as well.
The Data Manager and Analyst Programmer are requested to prepare summarised reports according to a given schedule on SIPAM achievements and progress to be distributed to the member countries.
The legal aspects concerning the utilization of copyrights and other protected documents should be studied and negotiated by the Project Manager in association with the FAO Legal Office.
The Tunisian delegate indicated that by joining SIPAM the Analyst/Programmer will loose some indemnities amounting to approx. US $ 2000/year. The MEDRAP Coordinator was therefore invited, in consultation with FAO to consider and take remedial actions to overcome this hardship.
It is recommended that the countries interested to benefit from services and/or activities of SIPAM notify the Project Manager of their interest to joint the SIPAM Project before the end of the first phase.
As MEDRAP will not be in a position to support travel expenses and DSAs related to the participants in the SIPAM activities from the second phase onwards, these expenses will need to be born by the countries concerned. However, the MEDRAP Coordinator has been invited to identify external funding sources in order to continue to finance experts' participation to SIPAM meeting.
The equipment required by the Documentation Centre has not been foreseen in the MEDRAP budget, Therefore donors should be approached for funding its acquisition.
ACTIVITIES OF THE WORKING GROUP
This group, chaired by Messrs. Akyuz and Coppola, met on the the 1st, 2nd and 3rd of April 1993, and discussed the following topics:
- system design;
- procedural approach;
- system development time table (planning);
- duties and responsibilities of MEDRAP and SIPAM members;
- planning for the first three months (April, May and June, 1993)
A detailed report on these working group deliberations will be prepared by this group and added to this report.
CONCLUSIONS
In concluding this Seminar the participants wished to express their appreciation to the host country for its proverbial hospitality and the excellent arrangements made for the success of their activities and deliberations.
The final session of the seminar adjourned at 11:30 p.m., 2nd April 1993.
