We've seen Bill's project come to a major milestone, and obviously virtually all of the fish information to be included in ITIS is a subset of what Bill has got. Using the fish as an example, is there a mechanism by which you could import lots of data from Bill, compensate him for his efforts and deal with the other sorts of issues that might come up in that sort of a data-use arrangement?
Roy McDiarmid:
That's pretty loaded. Sure. We are...[audience laughter]... but I'll defer to Bruce [Collette] to talk about some aspects because he's obviously got an answer.
Bruce Collette:
Well you looked like you were hesitating.
Roy McDiarmid:
No, I wasn't, but go ahead.
Bruce Collette:
OK. Just one comment in response to your question. The problem is, we have assumed the obligation to maintain the integrity of the original NODC code. So that all the names that are in there have to be translated into current names. So, we can use Bill's magnificent work to correct them, but it has to be done on a name by name basis. In another world, if we were starting all over again, we could just take Bill's list and start with that, but we can't because of this history of names and numbers that are still being used by some of the agencies concerned.
Roy McDiarmid:
With regard to the reimbursement/funding activities. We have some funding. We have to use it very—"discretely" I guess is the appropriate word—because the pot is relatively small. What we have done in specific instances is to assist people who have information, who may be nearing the end of their career, and wherein there is no other obvious source of information. We have provided small batches of funds to help them move information into an electronic arena. If our new management team is successful, then we should have additional funds to provide to people doing this kind of work. It's not an easy game. There are not enough people like Bill Eschmeyer that provide the data in the format that it is there. Those of you that work in this arena know that well.