Who's behind the news?
Who's behind the news?
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Newsjunkie.net is a resource guide for journalists. We show who's behind the news, and provide tools to help navigate the modern business of information.
Use of Data
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The Ifremer Marine Data Portal (data.ifremer.fr) is the primary open-access gateway to the scientific datasets collected, managed, and contributed to by Ifremer — the French Research Institute for Exploitation of the Sea (Institut français de recherche pour l'exploitation de la mer). The portal serves as a single point of access to decades of marine environmental data spanning hydrology, geoscience, fisheries, aquaculture genetics, and the coastal and deep-sea ecosystem.
Ifremer was established by French government decree in 1984, merging the Centre national pour l'exploitation des océans (CNEXO) and the Institut scientifique et technique des pêches maritimes (ISTPM). The data management mandate is embedded in Ifremer's founding decree, which explicitly charges the institute with collecting, distributing, and promoting national and international marine information. Data archiving activities at SISMER (Scientific Information System on the Sea), Ifremer's dedicated data centre, date back to 1969. The portal itself consolidates data from SISMER and multiple partner systems into a single discovery and access interface.
The portal encompasses data on the marine environment — including ocean depth, seafloor geology, marine species, ocean physics and chemistry — as well as data on human activities such as fishing, aquaculture, and genetics research. Historical fishery and oceanographic datasets span several decades, supporting long-term climate and ecosystem studies. SISMER alone covers more than 10 million km² of seabed through multibeam echosounders. The portal also links to SEANOE, an open repository for publishing citable marine datasets with DOIs, and connects to international data exchange networks including SeaDataNet, EMODnet, Argo, and UNESCO's IODE programme.
Access to data and information referenced on the portal is free for non-commercial purposes, including research and education, unless otherwise stated. Certain sensitive datasets are subject to restrictions. Large-volume or bespoke data extraction requests may be invoiced at marginal cost. The portal supports standard web services and INSPIRE-compliant metadata, and participates in international interoperability frameworks.