1 Introduction to the DatabaseDocument series

The National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA) currently carries out the role of Data Manager and Custodian for the fisheries research data owned by the Ministry of Fisheries (Mfish).

The Ministry of Fisheries data set incorporates historic research data, data collected more recently by MAF Fisheries prior to the split in 1995 of policy to the Ministry of Fisheries and research to NIWA, and currently data collected by NIWA and other agencies for the Ministry of Fisheries.

This document is a brief introduction to the aerial sightings database aer_sight, and is part of the database documentation series produced by NIWA. It supersedes the previous documentation by Taylor (1995)1 on this database.

All documents in this series include an introduction to the database design, a description of the main data structures accompanied by an Entity Relationship Diagram (ERD), and a listing of all the main tables. The ERD graphically shows how all the tables link together and their relationship with other databases.

This document is intended as a guide for users and administrators of the aer_sight database, and should be used in conjunction with the technical report (Taylor in preparation) for the most comprehensive background on the aerial sightings database and its uses.

Access to this database is restricted to specific nominated personnel as specified in the current Schedule 6 of the Data Management contract between the Ministry of Fisheries and NIWA. Any requests for data should in the first instance be directed to the Ministry of Fisheries.

1 Taylor, P., 1995: Database documentation: 13. aerial sightings. NIWA Internal Report No. 242. 25p.