2018 Status Report Scoring Methodology for Pacific Jurisdictions Indicator calculations and scoring for coral reef status reports of the Pacific jurisdictions: American Samoa, Hawaiian Archipelago, Pacific Remote Islands, Guam, and Northern Mariana Islands

Ecosystem condition assessments are a common approach to synthesizing a large amount of ecosystem monitoring data into a public-friendly report that can be understood by decision makers, managers, and scientists alike. Fundamentally, status reports help answer the question “How is the ecosystem doing?” The goals of a status report are to: provide a broad-level assessment, communicate complex information, use real data, and engage communities. These assessments are produced by a variety of groups from small, community‒based organizations to regional management agencies, to large international partnerships. To advance this effort, CRCP and IAN-UMCES brought together science experts, natural resource managers, and other stakeholders from NOAA and local jurisdictions in order to develop biological, climatological, and human connection indicators and reference/assessment points for coral reefs.