1 Introduction

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.

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 genetic "database", and is part of the database documentation series produced by NIWA.

This is a "database" in the strict sense of the word, where "database" is defined as a systematic collection of computer data. However the genetics data are not stored within a Database Management System (DBMS); (e.g., EMPRESS, Oracle), but rather as a compiled collection of computer files.

This document is intended as a guide for users and administrators of the genetic "database".