Data Rescue Needed - DG 30 cartridge tapes

Dear All Hello, I am based in Namibia and work for the Southern African Development Community (SADC) through UK based development aid to assist in data Management. I seek your advice in rescuing some data which is important for World Climate studies and Namibia's economy. I will try to keep this concise- the details are all through 2nd/3rd hand contact and sketchy: In 1990 Namibia gained independance from South Africa. A group of inexperienced Namibians inherited 8 cartridge tapes, allegedly for a DG30 which have subsequently been lost (many have tried to find them, they are gone). A copy of the tapes exists in South Africa. There are 8 tapes and no machines to run them on either in SA or here. Attempts have been made to read them by fisheries scientists in France which failed (I do not know the details). As far as I can ascertain a DG30 is a Data General Desktop model DG 014-000767-01 (???) I know nothing about these machines and would appreciate some links. The tapes were written in 1988. They contain data in a 'datasensitive file' (whatever that means) with 80 characters per record and fixed record length files. Why are they impt? They contain data from fisheries activities in the environmentally chaotic Benguela current region for between 1950-1987 for impt pelagic fish species (sardine). Getting this data into a more usable format will enable; 1. A better understanding of fish-environmental interactions in the face of global climate change and human impacts. 2. Provide an increased time series for fisheries modelling, thereby assisting in developing Namibias economy (of which Fisheries is the 2nd most impt). The sardine stock is currently at an all time low and employment has suffered. 3. could potentially improve protein supply to central africa. If anyone knows how this v.impt data could be rescued I would be grateful. Please contact me below. Richard ---------------------------------------------------------------- Richard Aukland BENEFIT Office, c/o NatMIRC, P.O. Box 912, Swakopmund, Namibia Tel: +264 (0)64 4101163 (NOTE NEW NUMBER) Fax: +264 (0)64 405913 WWW: http://www.benefit.org.na Email: raukland(a)mfmr.gov.na