Editor's note: The goal of The EBM Toolbox is to promote awareness of tools and methods for facilitating EBM and MSP processes. It is brought to you by the EBM Tools Network (www.ebmtools.org), a network to share knowledge, tools, and experiences to promote ecosystem-based management of coastal and marine environments. This column presents some of the new tools, resources, and initiatives for dealing with the effects of climate change on ocean ecosystems that were presented at the recent International Symposium on Effects of Climate Change on the World’s Oceans, held in Washington, DC.
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Evaluate your indicators! INDperform: Evaluation of Indicator Performances for Assessing Ecosystem States is a new tool to evaluate indicator performance, help select good indicators for the state of your study ecosystem, and assess the current state of a system in comparison to a reference period.
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Projected distribution maps for hundreds of North American species now available. The OceanAdapt website allows you to explore data on the distribution of marine animals in the US. Projections for hundreds of North American species in the 21st century under different climate scenarios were just added to the site.
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Want to learn more about marine heatwaves? The Marine Heatwaves International Working Group has created a website with lots of basic information and links to the latest research.
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Stay abreast of the latest ocean deoxygenation research and news at www.ocean-oxygen.org.
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Join an interactive ocean acidification community. The OceanAcidification Information Exchange launched in February 2018 is an open platform researchers, resource managers, policymakers, educators, and other stakeholders working on ocean acidification to share information, discuss ideas, and develop new collaborations. The exchange website has an great list of other ocean acidification resources.
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Ocean acidification data portal coming soon. The Global Ocean Acidification Observation Network (GOA-ON) “data portal” currently shows platforms collecting ocean acidification data (allowing for assessment of gaps in data collection) and become a portal for ocean acidification data soon.
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New ocean acidification data collection kit for areas with low technical capacity. The Ocean Foundation’s International Ocean Acidification Initiative has developed GOA-ON in a Box, a kit that enables stakeholders and citizen groups to collect ocean acidification data in areas with low technical capacity. Eleven kits – which use water bottle sampling, a single titration, and don’t require calibration – have been deployed to date. Contact Alexis Valauri-Orton of The Ocean Foundation (avalauriorton@oceanfdn.org) for more information.
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New toolkit for drafting ocean acidification legislation worldwide. The Ocean Foundation’s International Ocean Acidification Initiative has developed a Toolkit for Policy Makers to provide tools for taking legislative actions on ocean acidification resilience, supporting local science and research, and building coalitions and collaborations. Trainings and scholarships are available. Contact Alexis Valauri-Orton of The Ocean Foundation (avalauriorton@oceanfdn.org) for more information.
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Track the progress of ocean and climate mitigation and adaptation initiatives. The Ocean and Climate Initiatives Alliance (OCIA) brings together 20 initiatives to promote ocean-based solutions for climate mitigation and adaptation by identifying synergies and catalyzing progress between and within the initiatives. They recently released their first report assessing progress of the initiatives.
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Want to find out about harmful algal bloom events for management or research and contribute information about HABS in your area? The Harmful Algae Event Database (HAEDAT) is currently being populated with historical information and will eventually be part of a more comprehensive Harmful Algal Information System (HAIS). HAIS will provide information on harmful algal events, harmful algae monitoring and management systems worldwide, current use of taxonomic names of harmful algae, and information on biogeography of harmful algal species. Search HAEDAT at http://haedat.iode.org.
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Assess the climate change vulnerability of your marine protected area: The MPA Rapid Vulnerability Assessment Tool helps MPA managers evaluate the implications of climate change for the habitats of their sites and develop an adaptation strategy. It is available in English, Spanish, and French. View a webinar on the tool here.
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Want to see how real-time data can support fisheries management? EcoCast is a dynamic ocean management tool to minimize fisheries bycatch while maintaining target fish catch. Daily maps show the relative probability of bycatch to target catch for the California and Oregon coasts.