Deng Palomares shares the little known story of SeaLifeBase

SeaLifeBase was officially built in 2005 when Dr. Deng Palomares was invited by Dr. Daniel Pauly to become its Project Coordinator. But little do we know that the idea of creating a database that covers all marine organisms apart from finfish brewed as early as 1992.

In this third episode of FishBase and SeaLifeBase anniversary podcast series, Dr. Deng Palomares, Science Director of Q-quatics and SeaLifeBase Project Coordinator, shares the the curious beginnings of SeaLifeBase.

In 1992, the idea was to build a database to include growth parameters for clams. It came from Dr. John Munro who once directed the Resource Development and Management Program at the Center for Living Aquatic Resources Management (ICLARM) in the Philippines. Deng was the junior scientist at the time under his tutelage.

Unfortunately, the plan did not pan out since funding was retracted.

It wasn’t until 2004 when Deng and Daniel revisited the idea and thought…

“This was something we could do in his memory…”

In a nutshell, SeaLifeBase was created in memory of Dr. John Munro, one of the pioneers of tropical fisheries science.

That’s when the notion of “ClamBase” to manage clam fisheries became so much more — SeaLifeBase evolved to include all marine organisms apart from finfish, making available all important traits vital for fisheries research.

This podcast is part of a year-long campaign aimed at celebrating the 30th anniversary of FishBase and the 15th anniversary of SeaLifeBase.

You can check this out on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Overcast — wherever platform you enjoy listening to.