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:
  • 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: 1997 - 2018
• CCIEA Data Contact: kelly.andrews@noaa.gov
• Institution: NOAA NWFSC
• Source Data: Domestic vessel data from U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Navigation Data Center (New Orleans, LA) and foreign vessel data from http://www.ndc.iwr.usace.army.mil/data/dataclen.htm.
• Additional Calculations: Commercial shipping activity (distance) was measured as the distance traveled by commercial vessels during transit within waters of the California Current. Distance traveled was calculated using distance traveled within the California Current while in transit between shipping and receiving ports
• No download available

References

Andrews, Kelly S, Gregory D Williams, Jameal F Samhouri, Kristin N Marshall, Vladlena Gertseva, and Phillip S Levin. 2015. “The Legacy of a Crowded Ocean: Indicators, Status, and Trends of Anthropogenic Pressures in the California Current Ecosystem.” Environmental Conservation 42 (2): 139–51.

Eastwood, PD, CM Mills, JN Aldridge, CA Houghton, and SI Rogers. 2007. “Human Activities in UK Offshore Waters: An Assessment of Direct, Physical Pressure on the Seabed.” ICES Journal of Marine Science 64 (3): 453–63.

Guerry, Anne D, Mary H Ruckelshaus, Katie K Arkema, Joey R Bernhardt, Gregory Guannel, Choong-Ki Kim, Matthew Marsik, et al. 2012. “Modeling Benefits from Nature: Using Ecosystem Services to Inform Coastal and Marine Spatial Planning.” International Journal of Biodiversity Science, Ecosystem Services & Management 8 (1-2): 107–21.

Halpern, Benjamin S, Kimberly A Selkoe, Fiorenza Micheli, and Carrie V Kappel. 2007. “Evaluating and Ranking the Vulnerability of Global Marine Ecosystems to Anthropogenic Threats.” Conservation Biology 21 (5): 1301–15.