In  1989  Institute  for  Scientific,  Technical  and  Economic
Information   (ISTEI)  began  to  co-operate  with   Food   and
Agriculture  Organization in the maintenance  of  the  Clearing
House for Fisheries Advisory Services computer system.

The  system  is based on the UNESCO's software Micro  CDS/ISIS,
that  is  specifically designed for the computerized management
of structured non-numerical databases. It was implemented as  a
set   of   databases   and   CDS/ISIS  Pascal   programs   that
significantly  extended  the scope of standard  Micro  CDS/ISIS
functions.

The  system  has  a three-level structure. The first  level  is
designed mainly for data entry (most of data are coded to avoid
the keyboarding of repeated long texts). On the second level of
the system all data are transferred from the first level by the
conversion procedure. After decoding the data are grouped  into
the specially defined indexes (split dictionaries). It allows a
very  detailed checking of data correctness. The third,  error-
free  level  is designed for the system end-users.  This  level
provides  accurate and rapid responses to various queries  from
the users of information on fishing technology and aquaculture.

FAO  delivered to ISTEI the specially prepared forms containing
information  obtained from various institutions and individuals
all  over  the world. The main categories of objects introduced
to the system were as follows:

1.  Suppliers of equipment,
2.  Institutions   and   companies  (academic   institutions,
    governmental agencies, private commercial companies, etc.) 
    that can act as advisory bodies,
3.  Experts in aquaculture and fishing technology
 
The  scope  of information about the particular institution  or
person  was very wide. The suppliers described the distribution
and/or  manufacturing of deck/gear handling equipment,  fishing
gear  and  materials, aquaculture equipment (complete  systems,
holding    facilities,   water   supply,   feeding   equipment,
harvest/husbandry equipment), fishery/aquaculture  goods,  etc.
The  institutions were asked to deliver information about their
governing  bodies,  supporting institutions, co-operation  with
developing   countries,   training   programme,   general   and
specialized activities, characteristics of professional  staff.
All  persons  (experts in aquaculture and  fishing  technology)
were initially divided into the following five categories:

1.  Fishing technologists,
2.  Experts in aquaculture,
3.  Skippers/masterfishermen,
4.  Naval architects/boatbuilders,
5.  Engineers.
 
The  experts, who filled the proper (according to the category)
form  in,  had  a  possibility  to  describe  in  detail  their
academic/professional  qualifications, specialization,  working
experience, research and development experience, activities  in
public and/or private sector, etc.

A  special  multi-page form was created for  each  category  of
system  objects (mentioned above). The forms of all types  were
prepared  in  three  language  versions:  English,  French  and
Spanish,  to  allow gathering of the world-wide information  in
the system (the language compatibility is assured on the second
and  third level of the system through the data coding/decoding
facilities).  Each  type  of  form  has  its  own  computerized
equivalent - the data entry worksheet (screen layouts  used  to
create and/or update the database records).

All  data,  entered  into the system, were  compared  with  the
source  forms. Finally, they were verified after  the  decoding
and  exported  into  the  ISO 2709 exchange  format  file.  The
standard Micro CDS/ISIS backup/restore, re-initialization,  and
export/import  procedures  were  customized  to   fulfill   the
requirements  of  the system, dealing with  the  best  possible
protections  of  the  data. All mentioned above  functions  are
available only from the special control program called  "BOSS",
e.g.  it  is not possible to re-initialize any database without
the former performance of the backup operation.

The diskettes containing the entered data as well as the source
forms were successively delivered to FAO. Till the end of  1995
ISTEI  prepared  over  4000  records  of  "Clearing  House  for
Fisheries Advisory Services" computer system.