OHIBC: Changes in ocean health in British Columbia from 2001 to 2016

This dataset includes calculated scores, region spatial information, and a zipped repository of all the code necessary to generate the results for the Ocean Health Index British Columbia (OHIBC) project. The study was published in PLOS ONE in January 2020: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0227502. Abstract of PLOS ONE publication: Effective management of marine systems requires quantitative tools that can assess the state of the marine social-ecological system and are responsive to management actions and pressures. We applied the Ocean Health Index (OHI) framework to retrospectively assess ocean health in British Columbia annually from 2001 to 2016 for eight goals that represent the values of British Columbia’s coastal communities. We found overall ocean health improved over the study period, from 75 (out of 100) in 2001 to 83 in 2016, with scores for inhabited regions ranging from 68 (North Coast, 2002) to 87 (West Vancouver Island, 2011). Highest-scoring goals were Tourism & Recreation (average 94 over the period) and Habitat Services (100); lowest-scoring goals were Sense of Place (61) and Food Provision (64). Significant increases in scores over the time period occurred for Food Provision (+1.7 per year), Sense of Place (+1.4 per year), and Coastal Livelihoods (+0.6 per year), while Habitat Services (-0.01 per year) and Biodiversity (-0.09 per year) showed modest but statistically significant declines. From the results of our time-series analysis, we used the OHI framework to evaluate impacts of a range of management actions. Despite challenges in data availability, we found evidence for the ability of management to reduce pressures on several goals, suggesting the potential of OHI as a tool for assessing the effectiveness of marine resource management to improve ocean health. Our OHI assessment provides an important comprehensive evaluation of ocean health in British Columbia, and our open and transparent process highlights opportunities for improving accessibility of social and ecological data to inform future assessment and management of ocean health.

本数据集包含不列颠哥伦比亚省海洋健康指数（Ocean Health Index, OHI）不列颠哥伦比亚项目（OHIBC）生成结果所需的各类计算得分、区域空间信息，以及完整代码压缩仓库。该研究于2020年1月发表于《公共科学图书馆·综合》（PLOS ONE）：https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0227502。
该期刊论文的摘要如下：海洋系统的有效管理亟需量化工具，以评估海洋社会-生态系统的现状，并响应管理行动与压力因子。本研究将海洋健康指数（OHI）框架应用于不列颠哥伦比亚省2001至2016年的海洋健康回溯评估，共覆盖代表该省沿海社区价值的8项评估目标。研究发现，研究期内整体海洋健康水平有所提升，从2001年的75分（满分100分）升至2016年的83分；有人居住区域的得分区间为68分（2002年北海岸）至87分（2011年温哥华岛西海岸）。得分最高的两项目标为旅游与休闲（研究期内平均分为94分）与栖息地服务（满分100分），得分最低的两项为地方归属感（61分）与食物供给（64分）。研究期内，食物供给（年均提升1.7分）、地方归属感（年均提升1.4分）与沿海生计（年均提升0.6分）的得分出现显著增长；而栖息地服务（年均下降0.01分）与生物多样性（年均下降0.09分）则呈现小幅但具有统计学显著性的下降趋势。基于上述时序分析结果，本研究借助OHI框架评估了一系列管理行动的影响。尽管在数据可用性方面存在挑战，但本研究证实管理措施可有效缓解多项评估目标面临的压力，表明海洋健康指数可作为评估海洋资源管理成效、改善海洋健康状况的有效工具。本研究的OHI评估为不列颠哥伦比亚省的海洋健康状况提供了重要的综合性评价，而我们开放透明的研究流程也为提升社会与生态数据的可获取性提供了参考，以助力未来的海洋健康评估与管理工作。