40 Other Human Activities
Description Human activities in, on and around the ocean are varied and growing. These activities generate many benefits, including production of food, employment, energy and livelihoods (Guerry et al. 2012). However, they are also associated with pressures on the ecosystem that have negative consequences, such as loss or modification of habitat, depletions and introductions of species, physical, visual and auditory disturbances, and toxic and non-toxic contamination (Eastwood et al. 2007). Despite the increasing urgency of these influences (Halpern et al. 2007), it is rare to have a full accounting of how anthropogenic pressures in the marine environment have changed over time.
We developed standardized time series of indicators for a variety of anthropogenic pressures (e.g., trawl bottom contact, commercial shipping, nutrient input) acting across the entire USA’s portion of the California Current Large Marine Ecosystem (Andrews et al. 2015). These time series were used to quantify and evaluate the intensity and temporal trends of each pressure. Our synthesis, and corresponding methodological approaches to quantify the intensity and trends of these pressures, provide a foundation for future integrative analyses on ecological components (such as risk analysis and management strategy evaluations) across the CCE.
Indicators
- Species:
- Bottom trawl contact with seafloor habitat
- Commercial shipping - distance
- Finfish Aquaculture
- Nutrient Input
- Oil And Gas Activity
- Seafood consumption (per capita)
- Seafood consumption (total)
- Shellfish Aquaculture
- Component Category: Human Activities
- Time Range: 1999 - 2018
- CCIEA Data Contact: kelly.andrews@noaa.gov
- Institution: NOAA NWFSC
- Source Data: Distances were summed within physiographic depth, habitat and ecoregion categories from logbook data provided by the West Coast Groundfish Observer Program at the Northwest Fisheries Science Center and is comparable to the data developed for NOAA’s Essential Fish Habitat 5-year Synthesis Review in 2013 (maps and data available: http://efh-catalog.coas.oregonstate.edu/overview/
- Additional Calculations: Habitat modification was measured using the total distance disturbed by trawling and fixed (longlines and pots) gear. Straight line distances between start and end points for trawling gear and between set and retrieval points for fixed gear were calculated for each gear type and weighted by the gear type’s impact to the bottom habitat and by the type of habitat. These weightings come from NOAA’s 5-year Synthesis Review of West Coast Groundfish (Supplemental Table A3a.2)
Indicator Download
ERDDAP™ link:
https://oceanview.pfeg.noaa.gov/erddap/tabledap/cciea_AC_nonfisheries.html
References