FAO NEWS RELEASE - www.fao.org

Contact

Maarten Roest
Media Relations (Rome)
(+39) 06 570 56524
(+ 39) 346 50 10 574
[log in to unmask]

AppliFish, marine knowledge at the touch of a button

New app offers information of over 550 marine species

12 March 2013, Rome - You want to know more about the fish you are eating or going to buy? Is it maybe an endangered species? AppliFish will tell you. This free mobile application developed by the fisheries and biodiversity knowledge platform i-Marine makes aquatic-related information available to anyone, anytime, anywhere.

While human consumption of fish products has doubled in the last half century, policies for sustainable use of aquatic ecosystems must address the challenges facing global fish stocks.

Some 30 percent of the world's marine fish stocks assessed in 2009 were overexploited, according to FAO's State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture 2012.

"With AppliFish, consumers can choose fish that's not endangered, helping ensure that there will be enough for future generations," says FAO's Marc Taconet, Senior Fishery Information Officer and chair of the iMarine board. "Consumers can also use the application to learn more about species, capture levels and habitats, as well as the level of threats faced by these species."

Informed choices for policy-makers and consumers

iMarine is a global consortium of 13 research institutes, universities and international organizations from three continents with €5  million in funding by the European Union (EU).

Its new application AppliFish also has a web version that contains additional scientific information, which can help policy-makers, producers and consumers make informed decisions, and contribute to shape policies necessary for the responsible management of fisheries and conservation of aquatic resources, as underlined in the  principles laid out in FAO's Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries.

AppliFish adds on to i-Marine's applications for  managing, processing and visualizing scientific content to increase awareness of the challenges which aquatic ecosystems face.

These applications include the biodiversity mapping tool AquaMaps, the Vessel Transmitted Information Tool (VTI), reporting on vessel activity and environmental conditions for scientists working in fisheries, and the Integrated Capture Information System (ICIS), providing regional and global information on capture of aquatic species.

Over 550 species

AppliFish was awarded a prize at the 10th e-Infrastructure Concertation Meeting to discuss the present and future of the EU's research and innovation policy, held in Brussels on 6-7 March.

The application is designed as a pocket book of marine knowledge at the touch of a button. It offers basic information of over 550 marine species, such as a common names and sizes, distribution maps, as well as maps featuring expected changes in species distribution caused by climate change.

AppliFish combines data from authoritative, international sources, including FAO-FishFinder, FAO statistics, WoRMS, Fishbase, SeaLifeBase, IUCN, AquaMaps and OBIS, bringing together a wealth of expertise to create a community of practice in support of the ecosystem approach to fisheries management and conservation of marine living resources.

AppliFish is available both for Android and for iOS.

[2013/30/en]

Tools for journalists & editors


Photo requests: (+39) 06 570 53082 / 53393 or [log in to unmask]

Photos also available via the FAOnews Flickr account
Video material/b-roll: (+39) 06 570 55980 or [log in to unmask]
Audio clips: (+39) 06 570 53223
RSS feed of FAO news releases
FAO's online newsroom
Follow FAO on Twitter
Additional tools

This news release was issued by the Media Office at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). To unsubscribe from this news service click the link below or send an email to [log in to unmask] with "signoff Media-G-Eng-L" as the only text in the message body. You can also manage your subscription online, here. To receive news releases in plain text format rather than HTML, contact us.


FAO | Viale delle Terme di Caracalla, 00153 Rome, Italy | (+39) 06 570 53625 | www.fao.org

 



To unsubscribe from the Media-G-Eng-L list, click the following link:
&*TICKET_URL(Media-G-Eng-L,SIGNOFF);