Core Ocean Statistics

Goal

Develop a set of core ocean statistics which encompasses a range of biophysical, economic, social, and governance topics. These statistics will collectively define ecosystem condition for the purpose of ocean account building.

Background

There is a need for a comprehensive list of statistics collectable by all countries that form the basis of ocean accounts and inform on overall ecosystem condition and value.
These topics must be equally weighted in order to connect environmental assets, flows to the environment, flows to the economy, and governance factors related to the ecosystem in question and provide decision-making capabilities to the ocean account end-user.

Challenges

What are the key, minimum set of core ocean statistics that should be evaluated which captures ecosystem condition, services, and management (governance)?
How do we ensure these core ocean statistics maintain a strong power of prediction when considering an account will include several different environment types within the domain (country, municipality, etc.) of interest?
Can we link these measures back to the SEEA framework and other well-known account structures?

Proposed solutions

We outline a set of 30 Core Ocean Statistics that are organized by the factors laid out in Figure 1 of the Technical Guidance Manual and detailed in Appendix 6.10. These include Environmental Assets, Flows to the Environment, Flows to the Economy, and Governance.
These statistics are collectable by most countries or accessible on historical online data platforms (Table 1).
The statistics (variables, indexes, indicators, and other data types) underpinning each topic will need to be environment-type (ET) specific to ensure the highest power of prediction and be informative at the overall total ecosystem level.
We propose the specific core ocean statistics for eight different environment types: Coral Reefs, Mangroves, Kelp Forests, Seagrasses, Estuaries/Salt Marshes, Sediment, and Open Ocean (Tables 2 – 9).
Statistics will be further refined over the course of several focused workshops with scientists, economists, and statisticians with expertise specific to each environment type.

Rationale

Statistics were chosen from a policy demand point of view and, together, define the most significant aspects of ecosystem condition with respect to economic value and effective management.
Statistics were chosen with consideration towards feasible reproducibility, strong background in the literature in being informative to specific environment types and having preestablished connections between environment condition and value.
Measuring these statistics collectively provides strength to decision making processes because they reflect the best and most recent available approaches that define not only environment condition, but the flows between the environment and the economy and the parameters needed to determine if governance policies are effectively managing these flows and conditions.
The real-time feedback from continuously measuring statistics which collectively inform on condition, flow, and governance provides a strong foundation to enhance policy making decisions regarding a country’s ocean economy.

Core Ocean Statistics Tables

Table 1: Core Ocean Statistics

Environmental Assets	Technical Guidance Reference
Condition
Biodiversity	1.3.4
Ecosystem Extent	1.3.4
Ecosystem Fitness	1.3.3
Biogeochemical Cycling	1.3.3
Physiochemical Status	1.3.3
Carbon Stock	1.3.3
Resources
Stock of Natural Aquatic Resources (Vertebrates)	2.3.4, 2.9.2
Stock of Natural Aquatic Resources (Invertebrates, Algae, Plants)	2.3.4, 2.9.2
Stock of Cultivated Aquatic Resources (Vertebrates)	2.3.4
Stock of Cultivated Aquatic Resources (Invertebrates, Algae, Plants)	2.3.4
Stock of Abiotic Resources	2.3.4
Flows to the Economy (Ocean Services)
Regulation
Carbon Storage	2.4.4
Coastal Protection	3.4
Erosion Control	3.4
Water Purification	3.5
Nutrient Cycling	3.5
Waste Remediation	3.5
Pollutant Remediation	3.5
Provisioning
Maintenance of Fisheries	4.2.3
Cultivated Resources Extracted	4.2.3
Raw Materials Extracted	2.4.2
Cultural
Tourism/Recreation	2.4.2, 3.6.2
Education/Research	2.4.2
Religious/Spiritual/Indigenous	2.4.2
Ecosystem Governance
Regulation	2.7.1
Enforcement	2.7.1
Restoration/Conservation	2.7.1
Mitigation	2.7.1
Gross Value Added (GVA)	2.8.1
Expenditure	2.8.3

Table 2: Coral Reef Ecosystems

Ecosystem Type: Coral Reefs
Category	Statistic
Environmental Assets
Condition
Biodiversity	Coral diversity (benthic surveys)
	Coral abundance (benthic surveys)
Ecosystem Extent	Coral coverage (satellite data)
	Total reef area (satellite data)
Ecosystem Fitness	Production: Respiration Ratio
	Net Accretion Rate
	Total Alkalinity/DIC Slope
	Ratio of Coral: Algae Cover
Biogeochemical Cycling	Reef water flow velocity
	Total Alkalinity
	Offshore: Inshore pCO₂ ratio
	Aragonite Saturation State
	Dissolved Oxygen Concentration
	Daily change in pH (ΔpH total scale)
Physiochemical Quality	Sea Surface Temperature
	Mean Sea Level
	Salinity
Carbon Stock	Offshore: Inshore Dissolved Inorganic Carbon Ratio
	Light availability
	Coral coverage (satellite data)
	Sediment: Coral Ratio
Resources
Stock of Natural Aquatic Resources	Subsistence Fishing Catch
(Vertebrates)	Recreational Fishing Catch
	Commercial Fishing Catch
	Ornamental Aquarium Fish Export
Stock of Natural Aquatic Resources	Gross Echinoderm Catch
(Invertebrates, Algae, Plants)	Gross Gastropod Catch
	Ornamental Aquarium Coral Export
	Gross Bivalve Catch
Stock of Cultivated Aquatic Resources	Gross Pelagic Fish Reared
(Vertebrates)	Gross Reef Fish Reared
Stock of Cultivated Aquatic Resources	Gross Coral Cultured
(Invertebrates, Algae, Plants)	Gross Algae Grown
	Gross Shellfish Cultured (incl. pearl trade)
Stock of Abiotic Resources	Calcium Harvested
	Minerals/Oils Extracted
Flows to the Economy (Ocean Services)
Regulation
Carbon Storage	Coastal geomorphology
	Sediment deposition rate
	Light availability
Coastal Protection	Coral Species Composition (Branching vs. Mounding)
	Reef length/distance
	Mean Water depth
	Mean Wave Height
	Storm Frequency
Erosion Control	Sea Level Rise Rate
	Terrestrial Sediment Deposition Rate
	Reef slope to lagoon sediment transition rate
Water Purification	Sediment Organic Carbon: Nitrogen Ratio
	Benthic coral: algae cover ratio
Nutrient Cycling	Benthic algae cover
	Sediment cover
	Ratio of Nitrate: Ammonium
Waste Remediation	Sediment Organic Carbon Content
	Sediment Organic Nitrogen Content
	Plastic Pollutant Load
	Terrestrial Runoff Rate
Pollutant Remediation	Fertilizer Concentrations
	Land-based Fertilizer Use
	POC/PON Concentrations
	Ciguatera Presence
Provisioning
Maintenance of Fisheries	Fish Surveys (Abundance/Diversity)
	Catch Rate
	Coral Cover
Cultivated Resources Extracted	Value of Cultivated Vertebrates
	Value of Cultivated Invertebrates, Algae, Plants
Raw Materials Extracted	Value of Coral Sand Extracted
	Value of Guano Extracted
Cultural
Tourism/Recreation	Swimmable Area (Lagoon Size)
	Underwater Tourism
	Nautical Tourism
	Surfing/Boardsport Tourism
Education/Research	Net Expense on Research
	Net Expense on Education
Religious/Spiritual/Indigenous	Cultural Heritage Area
Ecosystem Governance
Regulation	License Fees/Taxes
	Taxes on Cultivated Resources
	Taxes on Natural Resources
Enforcement	Permit Income
	Penalties/Fines
Restoration/Conservation	Area Conserved (no take)
	Area Conserved (recreational take only)
	Biomass Restocked (Vertebrates)
	Biomass Restocked (Invertebrates, Algae, Plants)
Mitigation	Length of Engineered Coastal Barriers
	Area Geoengineered
GVA	TBD
Expenditure	TBD

Table 3: Mangrove Ecosystems

Ecosystem Type: Mangroves
Category	Statistic
Environmental Assets
Condition
Biodiversity	Enhanced Vegetation Index (MODIS Imaging)
	Phytoplankton Abundance/Diversity
Ecosystem Extent	Percent Tree Cover (MODIS Imaging)
	Total Mangrove Area (satellite imaging)
Ecosystem Fitness	Percent Tree Cover
	Leaf Area Index
	Chlorophyll Absorption (Hyperspectral Imaging)
	Soil Carbon
Biogeochemical Cycling	Soil Nitrogen
	Turbidity
	Sediment Accumulation: Sea Level Rise
	Particulate/Dissolved Organic C:N
	Daily change in Dissolved Oxygen (ΔDO)
	Soil: Seawater pH ratio
Physiochemical Quality	Mean Sea Level
	Tidal Regime
	Salinity
Carbon Stock	Methane Flux
	Carbon Dioxide Flux
	Sedimentation Rate (Mud Content)
	Canopy Area Cover (Landsat Images)
Resources
Stock of Natural Aquatic Resources	Gross planktivorous fish catch
(Vertebrates)	Gross piscivorous fish catch
	Bird abundance/diversity
Stock of Natural Aquatic Resources	Gross Mangrove Removal
(Invertebrates, Algae, Plants)	Macrobenthic Community (Sponges, polychaetes)
Stock of Cultivated Aquatic Resources	Gross Piscivorous Fish Grown
(Vertebrates)	Gross Planktivorous Fish Grown
Stock of Cultivated Aquatic Resources	Oyster Aquaculture
(Invertebrates, Algae, Plants)	Shrimp Aquaculture
Stock of Abiotic Resources	Charcoal Harvested
	Fuelwood Harvested
Flows to the Economy (Ocean Services)
Regulation
Carbon Storage	Coastal geomorphology
	Sediment deposition rate
	Vegetation Type/Density
Coastal Protection	Sediment Elevation Rate
	Mangrove Mean Age
	Mean Sea Level
	Tidal Height
	Geomorphic Settings
Erosion Control	Distance to Human Settlement
	Sea level rise
	Vegetation Type/Density
Water Purification	Mangrove Cover/Distance
	Sediment Quality
Nutrient Cycling	Nitrification Rate
	Biological Oxygen Demand
	Sulphate Reduction Rate
Waste Remediation	Mangrove quality and area
	Mangrove Root Length (aerial exposure)
	Adjacent Farming Development