Information Management and Networking

MOU No. RD009D

Staff

Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon

Conferences

PD/A CRSP Annual Meeting at Orlando, Florida, 26 January 2001. (Clair, McElwee)

Work Plan Activities

The following report describes Information Management and Networking Component activities in the third year of the Ninth Work Plan.

Report: Annual Activities of the Information Management
and Networking Component

Ninth Work Plan, Information Management and Networking 3 (9IMNC3)

Danielle Clair, Jeff Burright, and Kris McElwee
Oregon State University
Corvallis, Oregon, USA

Background

The mission of the Information Management and Networking Component (IMNC) is to increase awareness and visibility of the PD/A CRSP by publishing and providing accessible technical and programmatic information, to monitor and report CRSP impacts, and to foster networking among persons involved in aquaculture.

Of the CRSPs research support components, IMNC works in closest concert with the Program Management Office (PMO) in disseminating technical and programmatic information in accordance with grant reporting requirements and in collecting and analyzing program impact information. Component objectives are to:

• Identify target audiences for publications;
• Disseminate technical and programmatic information generated by the CRSP by providing appropriate materials and avenues;
• Track outputs of CRSP investigations; and
• Promote networking of CRSP participants with aquaculturists around the world.

In the reporting period IMNC activities have encompassed publication production and distribution, Internet activities, impact monitoring, and program promotion and networking.

CRSP Publications

Data and Resource Management
An ongoing IMNC activity is managing the program's mailing database, which increases by about 10% per year. The database currently numbers 1,221 entries from 93 countries. IMNC staff also maintain a detailed inventory of PD/A CRSP publications and track publication circulation.

Production
IMNC has produced and distributed a variety of publications and informational materials during the reporting period, listed below.

Eighteenth Annual Administrative Report
Clair, D., K. McElwee, A. Gupta, D. Burke, and H. Egna (Editors), 2001. PD/A CRSP, Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon, 118 pp.

Eighteenth Annual Technical Report
Gupta, A., K. McElwee, D. Burke, J. Burright, X. Cummings, and H. Egna (Editors), 2001. PD/A CRSP, Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon, 163 pp.

Addendum to the Ninth Work Plan
Printed Fall 2000, 41 pp.

Third Addendum to the Eighth Work Plan
Printed Fall 2000, 5 pp.

Aquanews, quarterly newsletter (distributed by hard copy and available on the CRSP website): Vol. 14, No. 4 and Vol. 15, Nos. 1, 2, and 3.

EdOp Net, monthly newsletter of aquaculture-related education and employment opportunities (distributed by hard copy and electronic mail and available on the CRSP website): Vol. 5, Nos. 8, 9, 10, 11, and 12; Vol. 6, Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7.

CRSP Research Reports, an in-house publication series that includes Notices of Publication:

00-150 Effects of shrimp farming on the hydrography and water quality of El Pedregal and San Bernardo estuaries, Gulf of Fonseca, Honduras. (10/00)
00-151 Chemical and physical properties of shrimp pond bottom soils in Ecuador. (10/00)
00-152 Vertical gradients of organic matter concentration and respiration rate in pond bottom soils. (10/00)
00-153 Development of decision support tools for aquaculture: The POND experience. (10/00)
00-154 AquaFarm: Simulation and decision support for aquaculture facility design and management planning. (10/00)
00-155 Application of geographical information systems (GIS) for spatial decision support in aquaculture. (10/00)
00-156 Response to selection for body weight on Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) in different culture environments. (10/00)
00-157 Criteria for selecting Nile tilapia and red tilapia for culture. (10/00)
00-158 Timing of the onset of supplemental feeding of Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) in ponds. (10/00)
00-159 Analysis of various inputs for pond culture of Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus): Profitability and potential environmental impacts. (10/00)
00-160 Concurrent design of hillside ponds for tilapia production. (10/00)
00-161 Microbiological hazards of tilapia culture systems. (10/00)
00-162 Bio-energetic modeling of growth and waste production of Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) in recirculation systems. (1/01)
00-163 A pilot study on the spatial and temporal soil moisture and distribution in integrated crop-fish-wetland and crop-wetland agroecosystems in Zomba-East, Malawi. (1/01)
00-164 Evaluation of tilapia culture by resource limited farmers in Panama and Guatemala. (1/01)
01-165 Masculinization of Nile tilapia with steroids: Alternate treatments and environmental effects. (1/01)
01-166 Managing the accumulation of organic matter deposited on the bottom of shrimp ponds Do chemical and biological probiotics really work? (1/01)
01-167 Environment, aquaculture, and food policy nexus: Case study of two USAID aquaculture projects in Rwanda. (1/01)
01-168 Effects of biomass of caged Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) and aeration on the growth and yields in an integrated cage-cum-pond system. (4/01)
01-169 Pond soil pH measurement. (7/01)
01-170 Nonparametric estimation of returns to investment in Honduras shrimp research. (7/01)
01-171 Risk analysis of shrimp farming in Honduras. (7/01)

The following publications were submitted electronically to and are available to download as PDF files from the USAID Development Experience Clearinghouse:

• Sixteenth Annual Administrative Report
• Sixteenth Annual Technical Report
• Eighteenth Annual Administrative Report
• Eighteenth Annual Technical Report
• First Addendum to the Ninth Work Plan
• Third Addendum to the Eighth Work Plan
• Research Report 98-124
• Research Report 98-124A
• Research Report 99-129
• Research Report 00-150
• Site Descriptions

World Wide Web

Online Publications and Their Formats
The Publications page of the PD/A CRSP website is an important source of programmatic and research material. Documents are placed on the site in one of two formats: PDF and HTML. Documents containing many complex graphics and a detailed layout are generally placed on the site in PDF format. These documents can be read with Adobe Acrobat Reader. Documents added in this format to the Publications page in the last year include:

• Aquanews—PD/A CRSP quarterly newsletter (4 issues)
• Eighteenth Annual Technical Report
• Eighteenth Annual Administrative Report
• Full-text version of the PD/A CRSP Research Report 95-91
• Full-text version of the PD/A CRSP Research Report 00-150

Documents that can be divided into relatively short sections are placed on the web in HTML format. Publications added in the last year in this format include:

• First Addendum to the Ninth Work Plan
• Third Addendum to the Eighth Work Plan
• Aquanews—PD/A CRSP quarterly newsletter (4 issues)
• Sixteenth Annual Technical Report
• Seventeenth Annual Technical Report
• Eighteenth Annual Administrative Report
• Eighteenth Annual Technical Report

Tables of contents of most publications are placed on the web in HTML format to allow rapid browsing of publication contents.

Employment and Educational Opportunities Online
EdOp Net is a perennially popular source of aquaculture-related employment and education opportunities made available from the PD/A CRSP website, via monthly email, and in a mailed, printed format. EdOp Net is delivered from the CRSP website via a searchable relational database and its web-enabling plug-in. The email version is sent out monthly to 511 subscribers. The printed version is mailed to 50 international and 23 domestic subscribers.

Impact Monitoring

The CRSP uses impact indicators to monitor the effects of its research on stakeholders, beneficiaries, extension services, the research community, and the field of aquaculture. The IMNC is responsible for annually soliciting and collecting researchers' quantifications of their impacts.

In addition to these formal impact indicators, IMNC staff collect project-specific impact information designed to capture CRSP participants' activities that were sponsored by the CRSP or came about as a result of CRSP work. These forms are requested on a quarterly basis and allow the IMNC to monitor, track, and report progress in the areas of outreach, public service, and professional development. The types of information collected include:

• Research progress
• Institution building (contacts with host country scientists, government officials, extension agents, farmer organizations, farmers, nongovernmental organizations)
• New host country involvement
• Physical support for host country institutions (e.g., pond renovation)
• Linkage development (technical or professional communications with USAID missions, host country institutions, nongovernmental organizations, and regional institutions)
• Conferences attended
• Students advised
• Lectures, seminars, presentations, and workshops given
• Outreach activities (community or school extension activities) undertaken
• Electronic linkages made
• Publications, including technical papers and book chapters, authored
• Theses published
• Awards or commissions received
• Informational material developed

Following the discontinuation of the Education Development Component, IMNC now collects information related to student activities supported by CRSP researchers. Support typically includes providing graduate research assistantships, hiring undergraduate student workers, providing research materials, and advising student workers' research papers. During this reporting period, 14 formal programs (seven masters, one Ph.D., and six bachelors degrees) were completed by CRSP-sponsored students. The following theses were completed this year with assistance from CRSP researchers:

• Athauda, A.R.S.B., 2000. Ultra-sound immersion techniques to improve the efficiency of sex inversion of male tilapia population. M.S. thesis, Asian Institute of Technology, Bangkok, Thailand.
• Contreras-Sánchez, W., 2001. Sex determination in Nile tilapia, Oreochromis niloticus: Gene expression, masculinization methods, and environmental effects. Ph.D. dissertation, Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon.
• Hayes, J., 2001. The safe handling of 17a-methyltestosterone in tilapia aquaculture. M.S. project report, Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon.
• Lanuza, J.A.D., 2000. Effect of stocking sizes on the growth and survival performance of Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) in ponds. Undergraduate thesis, Central Luzon State University, Muñoz, Nueva Ecija, Philippines.
• Martínez, J.A., 2000. Socioeconomic characterization of farmers with and without a system of tilapia production in Honduras. B.S. thesis, Escuela Agrícola Panamericana El Zamorano, Honduras. (in Spanish)
• McElwee, K.R., 2001. An analysis of water resource management in the Senegal River Valley. M.S. internship report, Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon.
• Mejía, G.M., 2000. Study of the production costs for culture of tilapia on small and medium farms in five departments of Honduras. B.S. thesis, Escuela Agrícola Panamericana El Zamorano, Honduras. (in Spanish)
• Molina, J.C., 2000. Study of the actual and potential demand for tilapia in five secondary cities in Honduras. B.S. thesis, Escuela Agrícola Panamericana El Zamorano, Honduras. (in Spanish)
• Mwau, P., 2000. Nutrient dynamics with special reference to nitrogen and phosphorus in tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus)/catfish (Clarias gariepinus) polyculture ponds at Sagana Fish Farm, Central Kenya. M.S. thesis, University of Nairobi, Nairobi, Kenya.
• Quan, V., 2000. Evaluation of the reproduction of tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) in plastic and concrete lined and earthen ponds. B.S. thesis, Escuela Agrícola Panamericana El Zamorano, Honduras. (in Spanish)
• Quispe, F., 2000. Evaluation of the production costs for tilapia fingerlings in Honduras. B.S. thesis, Escuela Agrícola Panamericana El Zamorano, Honduras. (in Spanish)
• Thunjai, T., 2001. Pond soil pH measurement. M.S. thesis, Auburn University, Alabama.
• Zelaya, O., 2001. Effects of water recycling on water quality and bottom soils in shrimp ponds. M.S. thesis, Auburn University, Alabama.

Program Promotion and Networking

The IMNC participated in University Day, a campus-wide event at Oregon State University designed to familiarize faculty and staff with programs on campus, and the CRSP booth received over 100 visitors. IMNC staff answered questions about the program and distributed informational materials such as program brochures, annual reports, EdOp Net, and Aquanews. In addition to the distribution of informational materials, IMNC increased program visibility through the creation of a jovial atmosphere with games and food. An additional campus-wide event was held during International Week, in November 2000. The IMNC hosted a booth at this event also. Visitors were primarily faculty and students with an interest in international affairs.

Graduate Assistant Steve Sempier contacted eight organizations and educational institutions that have been included in EdOp Net to solicit their opinions regarding optimization of EdOp Net's listings of educational and job opportunities. This year, 188 new subscribers were added to EdOp Net's email list, and 9 to the postal mail list.

Over the course of the reporting period, IMNC staff responded to more than 50 email requests for information received from countries around the globe, including: Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Jamaica, Haiti, Brazil, Chile, Gabon, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa, Pakistan, Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, Armenia, Canada, and the US.

Following are a sample of representative inquiries:

• A doctoral student in earth and environmental science was interested in aquaculture development for the mitigation of rural poverty in Latin America. She was pointed to CRSP publications of interest on the web as well as the FAO/CRSP report on the use of GIS to evaluate aquaculture potential in Latin America.
• A request came from a person in South Africa who was interested in using biosuccession to treat organic effluents and supply fish protein to a poor community. He was directed to several CRSP and non-CRSP researchers with experience in biological treatment of wastes, as well as several online and printed references.
• A group that makes periodical visits to Haiti to help a local pastor build schools and develop other community projects contacted IMNC regarding the possibility and feasibility of establishing a fishery as a source for food production. They were directed to past FAO reports that assessed the potential for fish farming in Central America and the Caribbean, as well as the PD/A CRSP website's publication section.
• A university professor in Chile wrote IMNC with a request for materials pertaining to sustainable aquaculture, general introductory information for beginning aquaculturists, and websites that cover related topics in sustainability and development. He was provided with an ample list of aquaculture-related websites, including general aquaculture sources and sites with aquaculture links, publications and videos, teaching resources, and information about sustainable development. He was also sent several PD/A CRSP publications, a publications catalog, and current issues of Aquanews and EdOp Net.

The PD/A electronic mailing list was migrated to a new, more robust server in February 2001. The list, renamed pdacrsp, continues to complement other means of communication within the PD/A CRSP community. The mailing list, which includes approximately 65 members, allows any subscriber to distribute a message to the entire group quickly and at no cost. Typical postings include administrative information of general interest, availability of new publications, requests for training materials, announcements of opportunities in the field of aquaculture, and relevant travel advisories.