Mapping human impacts to Papahānaumokuākea

Erik C. FranklinHIMB

with Collaborators:K. Selkoe, HIMBB. Halpern, UC Santa BarbaraC. Ebert , UC Santa Barbara, E. Selig, UNC Chapel HillK. Casey, NOAAJ. Bruno , UNC Chapel Hill, R. Toonen, HIMB

• 2,000 km long • 22-30 ºN

Talk Overview

• Background on the NWHI resources

• NWHI resource management structure

• Need for spatial data on uses

• Cumulative impact mapping approach

• Building the NWHI cumulative impact maps

Basic stats

• 30 submerged banks and seamounts• 9 areas of emergent land• Atolls range 7-28 million years old• Contains the most northerly reef in the world

• High apex predator biomass– (sharks, jacks)

• Endemism ~ 20% across taxa

• Largest tropical seabird rookery in the world, including 20 species

• Majority habitat for Hawaiian monk seal and green sea turtles

• Many undescribed species

• Hundreds of archeological sites

Unique and Valuable Resources

History of human use

1800’s through early 1900’s:• Guano mining at Laysan Island• Pearl oyster harvest• Whale, monk seal, turtle, seabird harvest1940’s:• Naval bases at Midway and FFS with dredging and infill• 6000 soldiers at Midway in WWII; reefs bombed, toxic dumps,

invasive spp.• Coast Guard stations at Kure and FFS1970’s -2000:• Lobster fishery (collapsed and closed in 2000)• Longlining fishery (closed in 2000)• Bottomfish fishery (continues until 2011)• Recreational fishery at Midway

Current Day Impacts

• Shipping lanes risk groundings, spills and wildlife disturbance

• Marine debris collects on reefs and atolls, drown fish turtles and seals

• Climate change beginning to result in – Sea level rise drowning reefs and beaches– Coral bleaching from sea temp rise– Increased rates of disease– Seawater acidification

• Research cruises bring divers & risks of accidental harm

• Alien species have established in places

• Special visitation events at midway

• Habitation on atolls for Fish and Wildlife

monitoring tasks

Orange = State WatersGreen = Fish and WildlifeBlue line = MonumentYellow lines = EEZ

Who’s Managing Impacts

The four management Co-Trustees:– State of Hawaii– U.S. Dept Interior (Fish and Wildlife)– Dept. Commerce (NOAA) – Monument and NMFS– Native Hawaiian Affairs

A call for action:Ecosystem based managementEcosystem based management

“Prioritize and coordinate management of multiple

activities within a specified ecosystem”

2004

Need better info on:

•spatial patterns of activities

• their overlap

•their ecological impact

Mapping Cumulative Human Impacts

Mapping Cumulative Human Impacts

1. Create a GIS database of maps of:

1. all human “stressors:” ocean based activities and indirect stresses on the oceans

2. all marine ecosystems

2. Standardize all maps and overlay in single projection

3. Translate activities into ecological impacts: the intensity of the activity is modified by an “ecosystem vulnerability weight” for that activity

4. In each map pixel, sum the modified intensities of all activities present to produce a single cumulative impact score

•Sea temperature riseSea temperature rise

•UV radiation rise

•Ocean acidification

•Ocean-based pollutionOcean-based pollution

•Commercial shippingCommercial shipping

•Land-based pollution: Land-based pollution: –nutrient input nutrient input –nonpoint inorganic nonpoint inorganic –nonpoint organicnonpoint organic

•Benthic structures (oil rigs)

•Species invasionSpecies invasion

•Direct human (trampling)

•Fishing: -destructive demersal-demersal low bycatch-demersal high bycatch-low bycatch pelagic-high bycatch pelagic-artisanalartisanal

Global map: 17 Different Stressors

Global Cumulative Impact Scores

7

6

5

4

3

2

1

Mill

ions

of

km2

41% of the ocean

is orange or red

less than 4% is blue

How does Hawaii look?

Zoom in on Hawaii

•The Main Eight look accurate

•The Northwest look strange:

atolls better than deep water?

1. Use local, fine res. habitat data

2. Get local vulnerability weights

3. Add local human stressor data

NWHI Redo:

1. Mapping Habitat

Ten ‘ecozones’ mapped fromNOAA benthic cover satellite data

at 100m resolution

2. Vulnerability Weights

• Spatial scale of stressor impact• Frequency of stressor impact• Number of trophic levels affected• Resistance of ecosystem to change• Recovery time of ecosystem

Combined into a Vulnerability

Weight

Five aspects quantified at order of magnitude scales for every stressor in every ecosystem:

25 scientific experts with personal experience working in the NWHI estimated the values (Selkoe et al. 2008)

0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0

Bottom fishing

Research manipulations

Diver impacts

Vessel strikes

Trampling damage

Sport fishing

Research wildlife sacrifice

Lobster trap fishery

Anchor damage

Pelagic long-lining and net fishing

Ship waste input

Land-based runoff

Coastal engineering

Ship groundings

Sea water acidification

Ghost fishing

Increasing UV radiation

Alien species establishment

Marine debris

Sea temperature rise

Sea level rise

Vulnerability Score

Survey results:

Selkoe et al. 2008

Human Stressors to NWHI

Global origin

Pacific-wide origin

Local (NWHI) origin

Vulnerability Weights

0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0

Bottom fishing

Research manipulations

Diver impacts

Vessel strikes

Trampling damage

Sport fishing

Research wildlife sacrifice

Lobster trap fishery

Anchor damage

Pelagic long-lining and net fishing

Ship waste input

Land-based runoff

Coastal engineering

Ship groundings

Sea water acidification

Ghost fishing

Increasing UV radiation

Alien species establishment

Marine debris

Sea temperature rise

Sea level rise

Vulnerability Score

ThreatRankings:

13 datasets included in NWHI

map

Human Stressors to NWHI

Vulnerability Weights

Ship Traffic

Tracks based on reported vessel locations in the NWHI from 1994

Data from Voluntary Observing System courtesy of NOAA

Acidification

UV

Temperature: Disease

Temperature: Bleaching

Climate Change Data

Bottomfishing

Pounds all fish taken summed over 1996-2002 at 0.25 degree resolution, excluding <2 boats per cell.

Dataset courtesy of Reggie Kokubun of the DAR

Final Map of Cumulative Impact

0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5

Research wildlife sacrifice

Research installations

Research diver impacts

Marine debris

Alien species

Lobster fishing

SST: coral bleaching

Ship strike risk

Bottom fishing

Ship-based pollution

Sea level rise

Increased UV radiation

Seawater acidification

SST: disease

summed impact

original vulnerability score

New Rankings

Atoll Close-ups

Midway Maro

Pearl & Hermes French Frigate

Shoals

10 Km 10 Km

10 Km 10 Km

P&H:

Highest

mean

scores for

both SST

metrics

Midway:

Lowest

mean

impact

score of

atolls

Maro:

Highest

mean

impact

score of

atolls

FFS:

highest

mean

scores for

UV, acid,

sea level,

shipping

Missing Threats

Existing:• Ship groundings• Trampling damage• Cruise ships• Tidal data • Pelagic long-line fishery ?• Chemical contamination ?

Non-existing:• Ghostfishing and better marine debris• Sport fishing• Historical impacts

Results are conservative!

Key uses for results

• Target areas for monitoring warming-induced bleaching and disease

• Demonstrate the low relative impact of research

• Evaluate new uses with cumulative impact perspective

• Catalogue and display use data

• Integrate with other management considerations

Mahalo!

Funding from the Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology Coral Reef Ecosystem Research Partnership

&

National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis,UC Santa Barbara

Photos courtesy NOAA & James Watts