NOAA NCCOS Assessment: Prioritizing Areas for Future Seafloor Mapping and Exploration in the U.S. Caribbean from 2019-06-28 to 2019-07-28

Spatial information about the seafloor is critical for decision-making by marine resource science, management and tribal organizations. Coordinating data needs can help organizations leverage collective resources to meet shared goals. To help enable this coordination, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science (NCCOS) developed a spatial framework, process and online application to identify common data collection priorities for seafloor mapping, sampling and visual surveys off the US Caribbean territories of Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands. Fifteen participants from local federal, state, and academic institutions entered their priorities in an online application, using virtual coins to denote their priorities in 2.5x2.5 kilometer (nearshore) and 10x10 kilometer (offshore) grid size. Grid cells with more coins were higher priorities than cells with fewer coins. Participants also reported why these locations were important and what data types were needed. Results were analyzed and mapped using statistical techniques to identify significant relationships between priorities, reasons for those priorities and data needs. Fifteen high priority locations were broadly identified for future mapping, sampling and visual surveys. These locations include: (1) a coastal location in northwest Puerto Rico (Punta Jacinto to Punta Agujereada), (2) a location approximately 11 km off Punta Agujereada, (3) coastal Rincon, (4) San Juan, (5) Punta Arenas (west of Vieques Island), (6) southwest Vieques, (7) Grappler Seamount, (8) southern Virgin Passage, (9) north St. Thomas, (10) east St. Thomas, (11) south St. John, (12) west offshore St. Croix, (13) west nearshore St. Croix, (14) east nearshore St. Croix, and (15) east offshore St. Croix. Participants consistently selected (1) Biota/Important Natural Area, (2) Commercial Fishing and (3) Coastal/Marine Hazards as their top reasons (i.e., justifications) for prioritizing locations, and (1) Benthic Habitat Map and (2) Sub-bottom Profiles as their top data or product needs. This ESRI shapefile summarizes the results from this spatial prioritization effort. This information will enable US Caribbean organization to more efficiently leverage resources and coordinate their mapping of high priority locations in the region.

This effort was funded by NOAA’s NCCOS and supported by CRCP. The overall goal of the project was to systematically gather and quantify suggestions for seafloor mapping, sampling and visual surveys in the US Caribbean territories of Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands. The results are will help organizations in the US Caribbean identify locations where their interests overlap with other organizations, to coordinate their data needs and to leverage collective resources to meet shared goals.

There were four main steps in the US Caribbean spatial prioritization process. The first step was to identify the technical advisory team, which included the 4 CRCP members: 2 from each the Puerto Rico and USVI regions. This advisory team recommended 33 organizations to participate in the prioritization. Each organization was then requested to designate a single representative, or respondent, who would have access to the web tool. The respondent would be responsible for communicating with their team about their needs and inputting their collective priorities. Step two was to develop the spatial framework and an online application. To do this, the US Caribbean was divided into 4 sub regions: nearshore and offshore for both Puerto Rico and USVI.  The total inshore regions had 2,387 square grid cells approximately 2.5x2.5 km in size. The total offshore regions consisted of 438 square grid cells 10x10 km in size. Existing relevant spatial datasets (e.g., bathymetry, protected area boundaries, etc.) were compiled to help participants understand information and data gaps and to identify areas they wanted to prioritize for future data collections. These spatial datasets were housed in the online application, which was developed using Esri’s Web AppBuilder. In step three, this online application was used by 15 participants to enter their priorities in each subregion of interest. Respondents allocated virtual coins in the grid cells to denote their priorities for each region.  Respondents were given access to all four regions, despite which territory they represented, but were not required to provide input into each region. Grid cells with more coins were higher priorities than cells with fewer coins. Participants also reported why these locations were important and what data types were needed. Coin values were standardized across the nearshore and offshore zones and used to identify spatial patterns across the US Caribbean region as a whole. The number of coins were standardized because each subregion had a different number of grid cells and participants. Standardized coin values were analyzed and mapped using statistical techniques, including hierarchical cluster analysis, to identify significant relationships between priorities, reasons for those priorities and data needs. This ESRI shapefile contains the 2.5x2.5 km and 10x10 km grid cells used in this prioritization effort and associated the standardized coin values overall, as well as by organization, justification and product. For a complete description of the process and analysis please see: Kraus et al. 2020.