1. PACIFIC ISLANDS MARINE RESOURCES INFORMATION SYSTEM (PIMRIS) – HISTORY Ganeshan Rao

2. 1981 –Commonwealth Heads of Govt Regional Meeting – CHOGRM 1984 – SPC Regional Technical Meeting on Fisheries (now SPC Heads of Fisheries Meeting) 1985 – SPC/FFA/USP Fisheries Information Advisory Group – began its work 1986-1987 – Pacific Islands Marine Information Needs Survey : Dr Esther Williams and Ueta Fa’asili. 1988 - Establishment of the PIMRIS Coordination Unit (PCU). Funded by Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) Via International Centre for Ocean Development (ICOD) Canadian Ocean Resources Associates (CORA).

3. PIMRIS objectives: Coordinating a regional plan for an organized collection, bibliographic recording, and dissemination of fisheries and marine information to the Pacific islands region. Development of a regional database on marine resources was another major activity.

4. PIMRIS STEERING COMMITTEE The University of the South Pacific (USP), Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC); Forum Fisheries Agency (FFA) South Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) ; Pacific Islands Applied Geosciences Commission (SOPAC), Reps from PacIs Fisheries Depts. STAFFING –PIMRIS COORDINATORS Ross Thrasher – Late1988-1990 Esther Williams – 1990- mid 1991. Ganeshan Rao – mid1991 – 2003 Vilimaina Vakaciwa – part 2004 Chris Nelson – 2004-2005 Maria Kalenchits – 2006 +

5. DATABASE -MOANA 1990 - CDS/ISIS computer workshop. Then WISIS 1996 - Regional Workshop on Marine Information Management and Introduction to CDS/ISIS -Individual instructional sessions were held in 14 countries totaling 19 locations. Version 1 – Aug 1992 Scope of the database: All aspects of Marine Resources (living and non-living) and specific to Pacific Island Countries.

6. PRODUCTS & SERVICES PIMRIS Newsletter (USP); Fisheries Newsletter (SPC); News Digest (FFA); News (SOPAC); SPREP Environment Newsletter. New Acquisitions List; Current Awareness Service(Journal Content pages)(FFA+USP+SPC+ SOPAC+ORSTOM +SPREP); Information Packages; Topical Bibliographies; Country Fisheries/Marine Resources Bibliographies; Poster (in English & French). Document Delivery; Translation works by SPC component; Topical Information (Analysis) Bulletins by SPC; Fisheries Directory (SPC); News Digest (FFA); SOPAC News; Literature searches; document photocopying.

7. Good will agreements: ICLARM (Philippines), CSIRO (Australia), Scripps Institute of Oceanography (California), University of Miami, Colorado University (USA), Plymouth Marine Lab (UK), Japan Marine Science and Technology Centre, University of Oregon - Ocean Law Centre, NOAA(USA), Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority, University of Texas and ORSTOM. Pacific Regional Aquaculture Information Service (PRAISE) at University of Hawaii. IAMSLIC commenced the practice of ILL request via IAMSLIC Email list

8. Collection Development - $10,000.00 was committed by the USP Library. Liaison Librarian & Information Literacy Programmes. PIMRIS Outreach Project: Technical assistance in marine information management including library setup to American Samoa; Cook Is; FSM; Fiji; Kiribati; Marshal Is; Nauru; Niue; PNG; Samoa; Solomon Is; Tonga; Tuvalu; Vanuatu.

9. REGIONAL GROUP In 1993 2004 when the Pac Is Reg Gp (PIRG).

10. 1998 PIMRIS in the New MARINE STUDIES FACILITY. Resource Centre/Library (including) Audio-Visual Collection; PIMRIS Database Development Activity; Aquatic Sciences & Fisheries Abstracts (ASFA) Input Centre for the Pacific Islands Region; Publishing Work for PIMRIS & MSP; and Information Services related work with regional co-operation. ASFA Data Input Centre 2002 - PIMRIS WEB PAGE

11. FUTURE DIRECTION @2004 Mission: To serve as a centre of excellence in marine information dissemination at USP serving the region. -online full text access to relevant literature in digitized formats. -special topic/course based literature searching skill programmes for staff & students. -Expanding ASFA input. -Continued development of the PIMRIS database and explore hosting via web facility. -Maintenance regional cooperative networking links. - periodicals holdings listings. - Maintain links with IAMSLIC. -Continued assistance to Pacific Island countries