Guidelines for repositing samples from the Census of Marine Life

While the sheer volume of material being collected by the Census of Marine Life precludes archiving of every sample, it is important that as much material as possible is preserved for future study, particular when the samples were obtained from inaccessible areas.

1) Each Census of Marine Life project is expected to ensure that the samples it collects are archived in a publicly accessible repository. This may be

• a single repository for all taxa; for example, all samples from the CeDaMar project will be housed in the Senckenberg Museum,
• repository by country or region of origin, as is being done by the NaGISA project ,
• repository by taxon (e.g., Mollusca) or,
• by method of preservation (e.g., frozen tissue, cell culture, microscope slides).

2) Deeds of gift or transfer should govern transfer of samples for projects to repositories, unless the samples are remaining at the project's home institution.

3) Projects are responsible for obtaining appropriate permits for sampling and import/export of samples, and for complying with archiving and data standards.

4) Institutions that accept CoML samples will be paid for the cost of incorporating those samples deemed to be of research value. Costs should be based on uniform estimates by taxon and method of preservation.

5) To qualify as a repository, an institution should make data on the samples available to the Ocean Biogeographic Information System (OBIS), and make a long term commitment to availability of specimens for study by qualified researchers.

6) Projects may maintain intellectual rights in deposited samples for a predetermined period not to exceed five years.

Institutions that are potentially willing to accept CoML samples are listed on the Institution page, by taxon or method of preservation.