This webinar originally aired on January 9, 2014.
“Sentinel sites” are areas with the capacity for sustained ocean observations to track environmental change. Within national marine sanctuaries, these observations are focused on ecological integrity and early warning indicators in order to inform decisions by resource managers. Monitoring data, characterization and applied research efforts are the backbone of the sentinel site program. The presentation will illustrate how Sanctuaries are serving as sentinel sites. Environmental monitoring plays an integral role in management actions such as response, mitigation, restoration, management plan review, permitting, enforcement, and education. Sanctuaries are also designing web capabilities to deliver sentinel site information to managers and other users.
This webinar was presented by Steve Gittings of NOAA, and it was co-hosted by the NOAA National MPA Center, MPA News, EcoAdapt, and The EBM Tools Network.