How healthy are Hawai‘i’s oceans?
Mālama ʻāina, or care for the land and ocean, is a concept that resonates throughout Hawaiʻi. Rooted in a long history of sustainable resource use, residents of Hawaiʻi recognize the health of their island communities and environment is intertwined, and the ocean is embodied in the spirit of Hawaiʻi.
But how healthy are Hawaiʻi’s oceans, and are we doing enough to sustain ocean resources for the people of Hawaiʻi now and into the future? Today marks the release of the Hawaiʻi Ocean Health Index (OHI), an assessment used to measure the benefits our ocean and coastal resources. The Main Hawaiian Islands score 74 out of a possible 100, meaning there is room for improvement to achieve a healthy, sustainable ocean.
But how healthy are Hawaiʻi’s oceans, and are we doing enough to sustain ocean resources for the people of Hawaiʻi now and into the future? Today marks the release of the Hawaiʻi Ocean Health Index (OHI), an assessment used to measure the benefits our ocean and coastal resources. The Main Hawaiian Islands score 74 out of a possible 100, meaning there is room for improvement to achieve a healthy, sustainable ocean.
Training the next generation of ocean data scientists
When we performed our first global assessment in 2012, we did not know data science had deliberate practices and open tools that could help us work with data. Instead, we were involved in the painstaking process of preparing 100 different data sources in Excel and meticulously tracking every step in a 130 page supplemental document. Fast forward one year, we repeated this detailed and labor-intensive process for the 2013 assessment and soon realized our approach needed to change.
We turned to open data science tools, such as R, RStudio, and Github, to prepare and analyze our data. The process streamlined our workflow and in 2014 enabled us to develop the OHI software Toolbox that allows for repeatable and reproducible results year after year. This approach allows us to perform better science in less time. In 2012, it took 30 people 3 years to complete the first assessment, and in 2017, it took 1 person just 3 months.
By fine-tuning our process and developing step-by-step training guides, we set ourselves up for the holy grail of science: reproducibility. And this year, reproducibility goes beyond our core team and into a new realm with the initiation of our OHI Global Fellows program.
We turned to open data science tools, such as R, RStudio, and Github, to prepare and analyze our data. The process streamlined our workflow and in 2014 enabled us to develop the OHI software Toolbox that allows for repeatable and reproducible results year after year. This approach allows us to perform better science in less time. In 2012, it took 30 people 3 years to complete the first assessment, and in 2017, it took 1 person just 3 months.
By fine-tuning our process and developing step-by-step training guides, we set ourselves up for the holy grail of science: reproducibility. And this year, reproducibility goes beyond our core team and into a new realm with the initiation of our OHI Global Fellows program.
A search and rescue mission for salmon data
A simple hook and line can be all one needs to catch salmon, but fishing for data about salmon is often more complicated. With a multitude of organizations collecting data all around the world, typically following differing protocols, the result can be a sea of data obstructed by a tangled mess of mismatched standards and different collection methods.
Fortunately there is an army of data scientists now focused on gathering, disentangling, and aligning data for other researchers called the Data Task Force. An NCEAS initiative launched in 2015 and funded by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, the Data Task Force rose from the realization that data collection, standardization, and management are often major constraints for big-data projects and can slow down researchers’ ability to produce results.
Fortunately there is an army of data scientists now focused on gathering, disentangling, and aligning data for other researchers called the Data Task Force. An NCEAS initiative launched in 2015 and funded by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, the Data Task Force rose from the realization that data collection, standardization, and management are often major constraints for big-data projects and can slow down researchers’ ability to produce results.
Putting tipping points science into practice
The detrimental consequences of tipping points in ocean systems, such as the collapse of a New England lobster fishery in the 1990s, are well known, but they can sometimes be difficult to anticipate, identify and, thus, manage. To help ocean managers better deal with this challenge, the Ocean Tipping Points (OTP) project recently held a three-day workshop on its namesake concept as an effort to bridge science and management.
This workshop was a culminating event for the five-year, multi-partner project, which was co-led by NCEAS and focused on understanding tipping points in oceans and infusing that science into ocean management. Here is a spotlight on a couple of the insights gained at the workshop.
This workshop was a culminating event for the five-year, multi-partner project, which was co-led by NCEAS and focused on understanding tipping points in oceans and infusing that science into ocean management. Here is a spotlight on a couple of the insights gained at the workshop.
A living laboratory
Imagine diving into turquoise water and being met by an underwater rainforest- a new world. The reef is a colorful patchwork composed of lively corals shaped like wrinkled brains, pillars, cabbages, and antlers. Though often mistaken for rocks or plants, corals are animals that serve as a foundation for life in reef ecosystems. Scattered along the reef are giant clams with bright blue lips; large groupers; and black tip reef sharks patrolling the area. This lush underwater garden is alive and well in the Pacific Islands Marine National Monument (PRIMNM). Unfortunately, most reefs around the world are degraded, so this submerged garden represents a ghost of former coral reef health.
Are corals the new canary in a coal mine?
A graveyard of white coral skeletons. Not the desired phrase to describe the underwater rainforests of coral reefs, but this is the image encountered by a dive team at Jarvis Island in the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument. Upon resurfacing, lead coral ecologist Dr. Bernardo Vargas-Ángel shared his shock regarding the condition of the reef he witnessed. The underwater garden he experienced just a year before was obliterated. 95% of the reef was composed of the white skeletal remains of a once thriving reef.
A shark's paradise
Inside the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument lies the Palmyra Atoll. Even though this ring-shaped reef is located in the middle of the Pacific, thousands of miles from any continent, dozens of scientists flock to these warm waters. Since Palmyra is only 4.6 square miles of land, what makes this small atoll unique? Why are the scientists so enthusiastic to come to this remote Pacific island? Underneath its turquoise waters, Palmyra holds a hidden secret. In this seemingly uninhabited corner of the world, what do the waters hold that could be so enticing? The answer: sharks. Palmyra is one of the last predator-dominated marine ecosystems: a shark’s paradise, a marine ecologist’s dream, a shark scientist’s heaven.
Diving into the Remote Pacific
After flying over the Pacific Ocean for five hours, we finally saw the small islands jutting out of the water. Our excitement levels were through the roof; for the ladies of the Bren “Remote Pacific” group project, this was home for the next three months. As we approached Oahu, we stared out the window at the lush green mountains and turquoise water. Even from 35,000 feet we could see the outline of the coral reefs: the main focus of our summer.
A collection of LTER blurbs
As a science communications fellow for NCEAS, I wrote monthly blurbs for the Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) newsletter. This is a collection of some of those blurbs.
The invasion
Imagine diving under the surface and being met by an underwater rainforest – a new world. Stems of the lush green kelp forest reach up towards the surface, just waiting to be explored. Scattered throughout the kelp are sheephead, purple urchins, bright orange garibaldi, and leopard sharks. However, when you dive under the water at Catalina Island, this is not the imagery you are met with. Instead of lush kelp forests, all you see are dense beds of weeds. The invasion has begun.
Policy analysis memo: Drone use in the Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary
Currently, drones are prohibited to fly in national marine sanctuaries below an altitude of 1,000 feet. However, drones are a cost-effective and low impact way to assess and document humpback whale populations and their surrounding habitat. Therefore, the Sanctuary needs to develop guidelines for drone use best practices, as well as provide permits for drone activity within the Sanctuary to ensure continued resource protection.