Data Gymnastics: Flexible Applications of the Ocean Health Index

The Ocean Health Index is based on 10 social benefits that the oceans provide to people (e.g. food provision, livelihoods, iconic species etc). A large body of literature has focused and informed the public about individual issues connected to these 10 goals such as overfishing, ocean acidification, biodiversity loss, marine-related cultures, coastal governance. All of these factors are woven into the Index so as to evaluate their contribution to the successful provision of each of the public goals.  We will illustrate some applied examples of where and how these factors affect the Index. At the same time, through regional applications of the Ocean Health Index in Fiji and the California Current, we will illustrate the applicability and limitations of the framework across different cultures, spatial scales, ecosystem types, and data availability and quality.