# Presentation: 918693

## Ocean StewardshipInventory & MonitoringMarine Resources

**Ocean Stewardship****Inventory & Monitoring****Marine Resources**

**Gary E. Davis, Visiting Chief Scientist**
**U. S. National Park Service**

## Today’s Itinerary

- Establish need for NPS to inventory & monitor ocean resources (includes Great Lakes, Bill)
- Describe opportunities that come from inventorying & monitoring ocean resources
- Define desired outcomes
- Identify challenges
- Share a cautionary tale

## Why Should NPS Inventory & Monitor Ocean Park Resources?

- 74 National Parks on the Coast of 26 States & Territories (Ocean & Great Lakes)
- 35 million acres of prime coastal habitats
- 5,100 miles of shoreline
- 40 parks include 3.2 million acres of ocean waters
- 13 I&M Networks—all 7 Regions

## Ocean National Parks

- Acadia
- American Samoa
- Biscayne
- Channel Islands
- Dry Tortugas
- Everglades
- Glacier Bay
- Olympic
- Redwood
- Virgin Islands

## Ocean National Monuments 

- Buck Island Reef
- Cabrillo
- Virgin Islands Coral Reef

## National Seashores

- Assateague Island
- Canaveral
- Cape Cod
- Cape Hatteras
- Cape Lookout
- Cumberland Island
- Gulf Islands
- Fire Island
- Padre Island
- Point Reyes

## Great Lakes Parks

- Apostle Islands
- Grand Portage
- Indiana Dunes
- Isle Royale
- Pictured Rocks
- Sleeping Bear Dunes

## Coastal Parks  & Preserves

- Aniakchak
- Bering Land Bridge
- Cape Kruesenstern
- Haleakala
- Hawaii Volcanoes
- Katmai
- Kenai Fjords
- Lake Clark
- Timucuan
- Wrangell-St. Elias

## Coastal Recreational Areas

- Boston Harbor Islands
- Gateway
- Golden Gate
- Santa Monica      Mountains

## Maritime History Parks

- Castillo de San  Marcos
- De Soto
- Ebey’s Landing
- Fort Point
- Kalaupapa
- Kaloko-Honokohau
- Pu’uhonua o Honaunau
- Puukohola Heiau
- Salt River Bay

## Maritime Memorials

- American Memorial
- U. S. S. Arizona
- War in the Pacific

## Incredible Biodiversity

## Cabrillo National Monument Tide Pools Are Wild & Diverse

- 123 PLANTS
- 175 INVERTEBRATES
- 15 FISHES
- 40 BIRDS

- They Shelter At Least 350 Species, Including:

## Oyster Beds, Coral Reefs, Kelp Forests, & Mussel Beds...

- ...in the Sea”

- “Rainforests

## Decades of Neglect

- “Poached Plants” vs. Poached Fish
- Denial that fishing was an EI issue
-  Belief that species-based fishery management was sustainable
- “Blue Map” Syndrome

## Dim Awareness

- Ocean “scenery” obscured by water
- “Out of Sight... Out of Mind”
- “If the habitat’s still intact, the sea life’s probably fine too”

## Ecological Cascades

- Fires were put out & predators killed...

- to ‘save’ the parks

**Notes:**
These actions seem naïve by today’s standards and knowledge of ecology.  We now know that fire and predators are essential to sustain ecosystems and biodiversity. We are still trying to repair the damage these early conservation efforts caused.

## Missing Pieces

- Cascades Discovered in Park Coral Reefs and Kelp Forests

## Marine Reserve Networks

- BUIS
- CABR
- CHIS
- DRTO
- GLBA
- VICR

## Opportunities

- Aquatic science integrated historically
- NPS niche at the coast—land-sea interface & people
- Visualize remote resources—create demand for primary contacts
- Shifting baselines—inventory records
- Basic science—predator/prey mechanisms
- Partnerships—public & private

## Desired Outcomes

- Include ocean habitats in 12 basic inventories
- Include ocean resources in *Vital Signs*
- Integrate inventories and monitoring across land-sea interfaces in parks (like critters do)
- Harmonize natural and cultural resource information systems in parks

## Challenges

- Current inventories structured around terrestrial concepts
- Different technologies and sampling approaches needed to collect the same kinds of data underwater
- Need new integrated standards for submarine geology, “soils”, and vegetation
- Dawn of a new age—time to move on

## How Can We Move Forward?

- I’m stuck...

- HELP!

## Channel Islands Abalone Fishery to Re-open?

- Serial depletion and disease
- Minimum viable populations—density dependence (2000 ha-1 to <12 ha-1)
- Ecological cascades
- Fisheries to endangered status <25 years
- Fisheries closed & reserves established
- Recovery plans developed
- Political landscape changed—new threat

## Cautionary Tale

- Re-enforce need for early warnings and value of persistence, remember the parable of the super-tanker steered by a committee
- Concern with species loss as EI measure—too extreme, too late , removes hope and leaves only doom & gloom stories (parks as biodiversity refugia)
- Concern regarding 4-5 year sampling intervals—too long to engage political remedies

## Healthy Parks & Enjoyable Experiences

- Integrity Stability Beauty Renewal

- Public & Political World

- Science & Technical World

- Satisfaction Inspiration Rewarding Fun

- Goals

- Goal Elements

- Indicators

- Vital Signs

- Metrics

- Biodiversity Community structure Population dynamics

- Plant diversity, Coral reef structure, Red abalone demographics, Water quality

- Species richness, Food web complexity, Abundance, Salinity

- Species numbers, Age structure, Pop. density, ppt dissolved solids

- P’mters

- Scenic grandeur Solitude Wilderness

- Group dynamics, Social complexity, Danger

- Sound levels, Visibility, Social encounter rates

- Party size, length of stay, repeat visits

- "Rosetta Stone"