Using the Ocean Health Index to Identify Opportunities and Challenges to Improving Southern Ocean Ecosystem Health

Longo, Catherine; Frazier, Melanie; Doney, Scott C.; Rheuban, Jennie E.; Humberstone, Jennifer Macy; Halpern, Benjamin S.

doi:10.3389/fmars.2017.00020

Cited by 22 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 53 publications

(87 reference statements)

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“…For example, our models consistently identified much of the ocean off Antarctica as having relatively low impact. But even in this remote region with "the healthiest ecosystems on Earth" (Brooks et al 2016), fishing and climate change are growing concerns (Longo et al 2017). It is thus important to compare our maps to Conservation Biology Volume 32, No.…”

Section: Limitations Of Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Uncertainty analysis and robust areas of high and low modeled human impact on the global oceans

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Halpern

et al. 2018

Conservation Biology

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Increasing anthropogenic pressure on marine ecosystems from fishing, pollution, climate change, and other sources is a big concern in marine conservation. Scientists have thus developed spatial models to map cumulative human impacts on marine ecosystems. However, these models are based on many assumptions and incorporate data that suffer from substantial incompleteness and inaccuracies. Rather than using a single model, we used Monte Carlo simulations to identify which parts of the oceans are subject to the most and least impact from anthropogenic stressors under 7 simulated sources of uncertainty (factors: e.g., missing stressor data and assuming linear ecosystem responses to stress). Most maps agreed that high-impact areas were located in the Northeast Atlantic, the eastern Mediterranean, the Caribbean, the continental shelf off northern West Africa, offshore parts of the tropical Atlantic, the Indian Ocean east of Madagascar, parts of East and Southeast Asia, parts of the northwestern Pacific, and many coastal waters. Large low-impact areas were located off Antarctica, in the central Pacific, and in the southern Atlantic. Uncertainty in the broad-scale spatial distribution of modeled human impact was caused by the aggregate effects of several factors, rather than being attributable to a single dominant source. In spite of the identified uncertainty in human-impact maps, they can-at broad spatial scales and in combination with other environmental and socioeconomic information-point to priority areas for research and management.

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Section: Limitations Of Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Uncertainty analysis and robust areas of high and low modeled human impact on the global oceans

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Crowder

Halpern

et al. 2018

Conservation Biology

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“…Although the concept of OHI is an indexing method developed for integrated oceans, it has been designed in a flexible way so that it can be applied in various scales (global, national and regional levels). According to Longo et al (2017), it is possible to use OHI in marine areas where extreme conditions such as poles are valid. Similarly, there may be the Turkish Straits System, where water flows from three different seas.…”

Section: Results Of Applicability Investigationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Biodiversity, Coastal Protection, Promotion and Applicability Investigation of the Ocean Health Index for Turkish Seas

Gazioğlu

2018

International Journal of Environment and Geoinformatics

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We are witnessing a process that involves environmental problems at the global scale, primarily climate change, which will require all people to be concerned about the health of the oceans. The health of the marine environment and ecology is deteriorating. Declining biodiversity and changing chemical transformations due to this deterioration reduce the capacity of natural processes to reproduce healthy marine environments. Scientists who work on a global scale believe that the processes of change have reached the level we cannot expect to take action and believe that we must prioritize our action to reverse the trend. For this purpose, it is necessary to develop a multi-dimensional scale that can measure not only the science parameters but also socioeconomic scaling for measuring the health of the seas-oceans. There are sources describing an acceptable definition of a healthy ocean as the continuation of benefits for humanity (Rapport, et al., 1998; Samhouri, et al., 2011). Multidimensional management and conservation of marine resources can be explained by a derivative of human activities and needs deep analysis (Halpern, et al., 2008). Numerous efforts to quantify natural resources in a comparative form have been the subject of research for many years. Numerous quantities expressed together with graphical visualization, as well as having different approaches to what it means to be in the digital form, are more than an ideal, but a challenge. To better understand and monitor ecosystem conditions; there is a need for a standardized and scalable index that is understandable and usable. In addition, the developments of international organizations and cooperation for the purpose of protecting the coasts and the increase of their activities have revealed the need for a common indexation in determining the status of the coasts and seas. The primary objective of the index in question is to ensure the continuation of the benefits that are used more than the rating of the severity of the deterioration. The Ocean Health Index (OHI) is a good reference to quantitatively assess the status of the marine environment from the perspective of coupled humanocean systems (

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“…The OHI was proposed to provide a quantitative, reproducible metric of ocean health, where a healthy ocean was defined as "one that sustainably delivers a range of benefits to people now and in the future" (Halpern et al, , 2015. The OHI provides "a framework to evaluate sustainable delivery of benefits people want from healthy oceans by measuring progress toward 10 widely-held societal goals" (Longo et al, 2017). The OHI scores ocean health on the basis of societal goals related to human use (e.g., food provision from fisheries, natural products extraction, and tourism and recreation) as well as conservation objectives (e.g., clean waters and biodiversity) of the marine ecosystems evaluated, and is argued to be particularly suited as a basis for ecosystem-based management of these ecosystems (Longo et al, 2017).…”

Section: Implementation Of the Assessment Of Ocean Healthmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The OHI provides "a framework to evaluate sustainable delivery of benefits people want from healthy oceans by measuring progress toward 10 widely-held societal goals" (Longo et al, 2017). The OHI scores ocean health on the basis of societal goals related to human use (e.g., food provision from fisheries, natural products extraction, and tourism and recreation) as well as conservation objectives (e.g., clean waters and biodiversity) of the marine ecosystems evaluated, and is argued to be particularly suited as a basis for ecosystem-based management of these ecosystems (Longo et al, 2017). As most of the components of the OHI relate to human use of marine ecosystems, this index quantifies benefits humans derived from a healthy ocean and is, therefore, best suited for ocean areas under intense human use.…”

Section: Implementation Of the Assessment Of Ocean Healthmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Indeed, although the OHI can be applied anywhere, application of the OHI focusses on economic exclusive zones , which have been the focus of global OHI assessments (Halpern et al, , 2015. Thus far international waters (i.e., International Waters and Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction), which comprise 64 percent of the ocean surface, have not yet been addressed in OHI assessments, although the OHI has been recently applied to areas with less intense human use, such as the Southern Ocean (Longo et al, 2017). The calculation of the OHI is also demanding on data, because as 10 traits are evaluated , many, such as "biodiversity" and "clean water, " are aggregated traits that require multiple data streams, which can be an impediment for its broad application (Inniss et al, 2016).…”

Section: Implementation Of the Assessment Of Ocean Healthmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Perspectives on a Global Observing System to Assess Ocean Health

2018

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Concern over the deterioration of the oceans has generated a demand for a system able to assess ocean health globally, and approaches to assess ocean health globally and an observing system delivering the data to support this assessment are now being developed. In parallel with public health systems, a system to assess ocean health should evaluate the occurrence and severity of a set of syndromes of concern through a series of indicators composed from a parsimonious set of ecosystem essential ocean variables delivered by a coherent and robust observing system. The development of such approach for the global assessment of ocean health will help inform policies acting upon the drivers causing ocean syndromes and help ensure a healthy ocean for all.

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Using the Ocean Health Index to Identify Opportunities and Challenges to Improving Southern Ocean Ecosystem Health

Cited by 22 publications

References 53 publications

Uncertainty analysis and robust areas of high and low modeled human impact on the global oceans

Uncertainty analysis and robust areas of high and low modeled human impact on the global oceans

Biodiversity, Coastal Protection, Promotion and Applicability Investigation of the Ocean Health Index for Turkish Seas

Perspectives on a Global Observing System to Assess Ocean Health

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