José Luis Murcia Abellán, Marine Environmental Researcher at ANSE – Asociación de Naturalistas del Sureste, is leading the effort to unlock and digitise more than 17 years of high-quality but unpublished marine biodiversity data from the southeastern Iberian Peninsula and the Alboran Sea. The dataset contains thousands of records of seabirds, sea turtles, and fish species collected during cetacean-focused surveys between 2006 and 2023, many still preserved only on the original paper sheets where they were first noted.
This work is one of the ten winning projects from the second DTO-BioFlow Open Call. The interview was recorded during the exclusive data training workshop in Paris, held from 3–5 June 2025. The immersive event brought together experts and project teams for hands-on sessions in data transformation, quality control, metadata management, and collaborative discussions, refining methodologies and strengthening connections across the growing marine biodiversity data network.
Read the full written interview
Who are you, and what is the name of your institute?
My name is José Luis Murcia Abellán, and I am from Morthia in Spain. I work for a small NGO called ANSE – Asociación de Naturalistas del Sureste. We carry out several marine projects using old wooden ships—mainly sailboats. This platform allows us to collect a wide range of ecological data.
What kind of data do you collect, and where do you operate?
Our methodology allows us to gather many types of information: birds, turtles, and marine mammals. We operate mainly along the coasts of Murcia, Alicante, Almería, Granada, and Málaga—that is, the southeast and south of Spain.
We use a technique called distance sampling, which allows us to record observations using an angle meter and distance measurements. This way, we can document the distance to the target, the angle, and certain behavioural notes. The data we collect is what we call “accessory data”—it’s not highly elaborate, but it is consistent.
How long have you been collecting this information?
We have been using distance sampling for more than 20 years. That means we have bird and turtle data spanning two decades—from around 2005 to today. Altogether, we’ve collected approximately 18,000 unique data points for birds alone.
It’s a huge amount of information, but most of it has never been analysed. A lot of it is still stored on the original paper data sheets.
What makes this dataset valuable?
It is a very long time series, collected in the same region and using the same methodology. We believe it could be extremely useful for helping public administrations manage marine protected areas in southeastern Spain. These zones currently lack important data on birds and turtles. Our dataset could help them make better, more informed decisions.
Can you give an example of how your data could help?
Yes. We are currently collaborating with the Oceanographic Foundation of Valencia, which works with marine turtles. They need to locate turtles at sea to capture and mark them with satellite tags.
The administration and the foundation often lack precise knowledge of where turtles are found—but we have that information. However, because our data is still on paper, it has never been shared. This collaboration showed us clearly how our data could improve sea turtle management. We expect similar benefits for bird conservation.
Why is this project important for your organisation?
In our NGO, we rarely have time to work on accessory data. When we finish one project on cetaceans, for example, we immediately need to move to another project—maybe about fish or vegetation on land. Because of this, we’ve never had the time to properly digitise or analyse the older datasets. This project allows us to digitise everything correctly and start working with the data—not only for us, but also for anyone we share it with.
What does this initiative mean for you personally?
For me, this is completely new. I was totally unaware of such initiatives before. I think it’s fantastic, because there is so much valuable data sitting on paper in old records. It’s exciting not only for us—because it allows us to work with our historical data—but also because it creates opportunities to share the data and support further research. I believe it’s a great opportunity for researchers across the European Union.